


alchemy, automail & affection

by hey_you_with_the_face



Series: DCJ FMAB AU [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: (off screen) Minor Character Death, Alchemist Jimmy, Alternate Universe - Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Automail Mechanic Dean, Blind Jimmy, Canon-Typical Violence, Colonel Crowley, Dirty Talk, M/M, Making Out, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Twincest, alchemist castiel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:40:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hey_you_with_the_face/pseuds/hey_you_with_the_face
Summary: A Fullmetal Alchemist Inspired AUAfter causing themselves extensive damage while trying to resurrect their mother using alchemical means, twins Castiel and Jimmy join the military in an effort to use government resources to restore themselves. Their job is to travel the country investigating cases of rogue alchemists who are using their skills to harm.Returning from a case in a decidedly rough shape, they visit their childhood friend and automail mechanic Dean only this time, Dean gives them an ultimatum...





	1. Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Okie dokie, a few things:
> 
> First, this story was meant to be my SPN AU Big Bang but unfortunately this story is going to be much longer than I anticipated and therefore unable to fit in the timeline so I decided to start posting it as a work in progress.
> 
> Second, to all you Fullmetal Alchemist fans, this is only a loosely based AU. I've had to adjust the rules of alchemy to fit what I needed so it doesn't resemble the alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm only really incorporating some elements of the story into my version. Hopefully this doesn't put you off.
> 
> Finally, as I mentioned before, this is a work in progress. I'm going to try to stay ahead of the game and have chapters ready to be posted so I'm going to try and stick to a posting schedule to help with that. This fic will be updated every Friday.

Castiel stepped off the train, the right side of his body aching from the long journey from the southern province; the trip was a long one to begin with and the military trains weren’t known for their comfort. He rotated his arm, hearing the faint clank of metal as all the gears and bolts shifted; the shoulder joint where the automail connected to his body smarted but that was normal after being jolted around on train tracks for about a day and a half.

“You’d think that with as many people who ride these damn trains from one side of the country to the other, they’d get better seats,” Jimmy’s voice sounded behind him. Castiel turned to see his brother hopping expertly from the train, his sightless eyes staring straight ahead and his face formed into a scowl. “I mean seriously, did they specifically go out and find the crappiest seats or something?”

Huffing a laugh, Castiel picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “The only people riding these trains are in the military and you should know by now that the military couldn’t give a shit if people are comfortable.” He reached out and patted his twin on the arm before tugging him along. “Come on, let’s go; the faster we get home, the faster we can get patched up.”

Jimmy grunted in acknowledgement, picking up his own bag, and together they started the walk out of the station and towards home.

Singer’s Automail was a few miles away from the city, out in the country and away from the hustle and bustle. It was something that Castiel always had enjoyed about it. He and Jimmy spent far too much time in the buzzing madness of the cities they were sent to; coming home helped wash away the dirt and grime of it all.

Tired from the train ride, Jimmy was lagging behind by the time they made it to the small, slightly rundown house. Barks echoing from the small shed next to the house told them that Dean must be working since Bobby’s dog Rumsfeld wouldn’t leave his side if he were still in the workshop; a good thing too since both their automail was in desperate need of maintenance.

They made a quick pit stop to drop their bags on the porch before heading towards the shed. Before they were too close, Jimmy’s arm across his chest halted him. At first Castiel was on alert, worried that his brother had sensed something, too many years working for the military had put them both slightly on edge but he relaxed as he saw only a comical fear on his brother’s face.

“He’s probably going to kill us this time,” he whispered, probably afraid his voice might carry and they’d lose the element of surprise. Jimmy nodded down at his arm where Castiel could see the extremely obvious signs of wear and tear. “We were supposed to stop by for a tune up ages ago and you remember what he said he’d do the next time we slacked off.”

Ah, yes. Castiel believed the exact words were, ‘I’ll build tracers into the next set so I can hunt you down wherever you are; I don’t care if you’re hip deep in rebels or magic hoo-doo shit, you have to have your automail looked at.’

But before Castiel could suggest that it might be in their best interest to go back towards the house and have Bobby take a look at them, he was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out from the open shed door.

“Cas? Jimmy?” Dean called right before he appeared in the doorway. He was wearing his coveralls but the top half was tied around his waist and his arms were covered in grease. Castiel never understood the point of him wearing the jumpsuit if he always ended up dirty anyway but he did have to admit, it made Dean look very good. 

Dean walked towards them, brandishing a wrench; his face was stormy and even Jimmy knew they were in trouble by the gruff tone of his voice. “You two were scheduled to come back here for maintenance _three months ago_ ,” Dean growled, his bright green eyes scanned their faces briefly before beginning to analyze his actual subjects, first Castiel’s arm then moving on to Jimmy’s. “Look at you two! You’re a mess.”

Jimmy swallowed loudly and attempted to grin. “Um, well, we may have been sent to the south to deal with a slight issue with another rogue alchemist,” he explained quickly, obviously hoping that he could appease Dean with the reason behind their tardiness; Castiel was less inclined to think this would work but he let his brother try anyway. “It might have gotten a bit messy and we missed our appointment but look, everything’s still fine.”

He attempted to demonstrate this by walking forward to show Dean his arm but unfortunately for Jimmy, his leg decided to take that moment to seize up slightly and make a screeching noise. Dean immediately rushed over and pressed hand to Jimmy’s chest to stop him from moving and the next thing either of the twins knew, Jimmy was being swept of his feet bridal style. 

Castiel would have laughed at the blush that tinged his brother’s cheeks as he was borne away into the work shed by Dean if it weren’t for the fact he was slightly jealous but that was to be expected considering he had a crush on Dean.

And so did Jimmy.

“I swear, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you two,” Dean grumbled, setting Jimmy down on the padded workbench with a gentleness that was at odds with his exasperated tone. “Look at this mess.” He turned back to Cas and jerked his head towards an unoccupied portion of the bench. “Hop on up, Cas; shirt off. Let’s see what damage you have.”

Dean’s hands pushed up the sleeve of Jimmy’s left arm until the elbow joint was exposed and began poking and prodding at the metal forearm while Castiel shrugged off his shirt. Dean shook his head and frowned. “What did you do to this arm, Jim? It looks like it was chewed on.”

This made Jimmy laugh, he turned his head towards Cas and smiled. “Cas and me were working on a case, someone was making illegal chimeras,” he explained. To an outsider, his twin looked completely at ease but Castiel could tell that he was trying to distract himself from Dean’s hands touching his skin. It was obviously difficult to keep secret feelings in check when the subject of said feelings was running his hands all over you. Jimmy even had it easy, since Castiel’s automail connected higher, the only way for Dean to get a good enough look was for him to be shirtless instead of just rolling up a sleeve. 

“He figured out we were in town and decided that a nice lion-bear-snake hybrid would take us out but he was wrong,” Jimmy continued with the story of their last case. “This was just a very unfortunate consequence of taking him down. The lion part may have...nibbled on me, just a little bit.”

“Well, that arm is going to need some serious work now,” Dean said, standing up straight and rolling Jimmy’s sleeve down. He stepped back and nodded perfunctorily before turning to Castiel. “Any lions chew on you?”

Castiel squirmed under his gaze but not for the reasons Dean probably assumed. “No, I didn’t have any animals chewing on me,” he replied, holding out his arm for inspection which Dean grasped. “Though I may have used it to block a few blows from a hammer.” 

This confession earned him a sigh and a shake of the head. Castiel suppressed a shudder as Dean started feeling his skin near the connection point; his hands were warm and rough and it was hard not to fantasize about them while they were actually on his body. Luckily Dean distracted him by ranting some more. “Seriously, I think I could stay in business with just you two as customers,” he complained, peering intently at the dents and other damage on Castiel’s arm before releasing him. Stepping back he raised an eyebrow at Castiel and clapped his hands.

Oh great, they were at this portion of the visit.

“Alright boys, you know the drill,” Dean said, sounding almost completely unaffected by what was going to happen next. “Drop ‘em.”

Jimmy and Castiel sighed heavily in unison but did as they were told. They slid off the bench and started undoing their pants. They both dreaded and secretly loved this part of their maintenance, even if it was nerve wracking to have to worry about certain bodily reactions. Once their pants were off and they were in their underwear, Dean had them hop up on the table one at a time, laying out so he could thoroughly examine their automail.

The twins had discussed their coping methods one night while they were on the road. Apparently Jimmy counted the ceiling tiles to avoid focusing on the fact that Dean was essentially massaging the one side of his groin as he checked the connection port for his leg. Castiel prefered to mentally go over some of his more complex alchemical equations, trying to see if there were any improvements to be made; this way he didn’t notice the way Dean’s fingers traveled almost delicately over the skin of his hip as he made sure everything was in order.

“Well, it looks like your legs are at least in better shape than your arms,” Dean said as he finally allowed Castiel to sit up and put his pants back on. He counted it as a victory that he didn’t allow his body to embarrass him. “I think I’ll start with the arms since they’ll need the most work,” he continued, turning away from them to grab his wrenches. “Hand over my horribly abused mechanical art.”

Rolling his eyes at Dean’s dramatics, Castiel allowed Dean to remove his right arm and then watched as the same was done to Jimmy. When it came time to repair their legs, they’d have to make due with non-automail prosthetics but when Dean fixed their other limbs, they just went armless, as strange as that would seem. “It’s automail, Dean,” he replied, his tone dry. “I don’t think it technically qualifies as art.”

“And this is just normal wear and tear,” Jimmy piped up as Dean moved on to him. Dean rolled his eyes at him and even though Jimmy didn’t know that had occurred, he smiled roguishly in Dean’s direction. “I think you’re just getting soft, only dealing with civilians like you do. You aren’t up to dealing with big, tough military-grade alchemists like us.”

Castiel smiled and nodded while Dean snorted. He liked watching his twin and Dean interact; Jimmy had always been the more boisterous of the two of them and once they’d admitted to one another that Dean held both their interests, Jimmy had made it his mission to test Dean’s boundaries. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do since they ran the possibility of alienating their friend and losing their mechanic if Dean realized that not only were both of them attracted to him but to each other as well but Jimmy did it anyway and Castiel just couldn’t force himself to stop him. Part of him secretly wanted Dean to find out everything.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Dean scoffed, walking over to his bench with their automail. He sat down on his stool and began tearing down the limbs, muttering to himself about replacement parts and reinforcement. Before he completely slipped into that Jimmy affectionately called ‘gear head mode’, Dean turned and gestured towards the house. “Bobby said something about making supper, why don’t you guys go and eat while I work on these?”

Knowing that Dean would have no use for them even if they did decide to stay in the shed with him to keep him company, Castiel and Jimmy trudged their way into the house to let Bobby know they were home. 

They found Bobby stirring a large pot of stew that was bubbling merrily on the stove when they entered the house. 

“Well, look what the road spit back up,” he commented drily, looking for all the world like he couldn’t care less that they were back but the relaxing of Bobby’s shoulders upon seeing them told a different story. Castiel saw his quick eyes take note of their empty sleeves. “I see Dean’s already had a crack at you, how bad was it this time?”

“Probably not our best checkup,” Jimmy admitted as he sat down at the table, grinning cheekily in Bobby’s direction. “But you know how Dean likes to exaggerate when it comes to his precious automail.”

Ignoring his brother’s comment, Castiel dutifully gave Bobby a list of what was wrong with their automail and gave him an abbreviated version of the adventure that caused each one. By the time he’d recounted their last few missions, with the occasional comment from Jimmy, Bobby announced that the stew was done. He dished out large bowls for them and poured drinks before taking a seat at the table. None of them bothered calling for Dean; once he started working, nothing would tear him away from his workbench though Castiel knew that later Bobby would take him out some food and force him to eat. 

“So, it sounds like the military’s been running you ragged,” Bobby said, swallowing a bit of stew. He leveled a serious look at Castiel. “I hope you boys have had time to work on your personal project.”

Castiel chewed thoughtfully on a piece of meat from his meal. 

Ah, yes. The tablet. He’d figured Bobby would ask.

“Nothing so far,” he admitted, stirring his food sullenly. The reminder of his latest failure in that regard putting him off his food slightly. “I thought I had a lead on it when we were in Illachago but no one in the city had had word of it.”

Bobby nodded and hummed in understanding. “I guess that means you boys will be visiting that little upstart Colonel while you’re home?”

Sighing tiredly, Castiel nodded. “Yes, we’ll have to visit Eastern Command,” he said, already dreading the thought of it. Jimmy made a frustrated noise but distracted himself by eating some more stew. “We would have had to anyway but I guess we’ll have to ask him if he’s had any word.”

“He probably has and he’ll make us earn every damn word of it,” Jimmy grumbled around a mouthful of vegetables. 

This of course was very true. Colonel Crowley never gave them information without giving them an assignment to complete first or, if he didn’t have on ready at the time, making the twins promise to take the next one without question. It had been that way since they’d first met him.

_Six Years Ago_

A hand shaking Castiel’s shoulder brought him back to consciousness and he instantly wished that it hadn’t.

His entire body felt like it had been stripped raw and doused in something acidic while his right shoulder and hip ached and throbbed. For a brief moment, as he had for the last two weeks, he felt a small jolt of fear as he realized he couldn’t move his arm or leg on the right side before his brain reminded him that those particular limbs were gone.

“Cas, sorry about waking you but,” Dean paused, looking towards the bedroom door before gazing down at him. His green eyes were filled with worry. “There’s a man from the military here to see you and Jimmy.”

Just as he finished saying this, the door to the room opened and Bobby entered. Castiel had never seen such a hard expression on his face and fear sliced through the pained fog that surrounded his head. He watched as Bobby stepped aside to reveal a short stocky man dressed in the blue uniform of the military; the man was had dark short cropped hair, a ghosting of stubble on his jaw and his eyes were cold and calculating.

Bobby motioned for Dean to leave which he did after hesitating for a moment to look anxiously down at Castiel and over at the other bed that held Jimmy. It was obvious that he didn’t want to leave but Bobby didn’t look like he would brook any arguments at the moment.

No one spoke for a minute once the door closed behind Dean.

The soldier walked around the room, poking and prodding at the multitude of medical supplies that filled the tables before glancing up at Castiel with a sharp smile. “Well, well. It looks like you two boys had a bit of a rough go, doesn’t it?” he said, his voice a low raspy rumble in the quiet room. “One would care to wonder what it was exactly that caused two strong young men such as yourselves to lose two limbs each, not to mention a case of blindness in your brother over there. Care to share the details?”

From the second that Castiel had woken up in the shop’s medical room after the incident, he’d known that this moment would come.

“There was a vehicle accident, Jimmy and I were joyriding in one of the cars and---”

“Bullshit!” the man barked, his eyes suddenly blazing as he loomed over Castiel’s bed. He pointed an accusing finger at him. “I know exactly what you two utter morons were attempting to do. I saw the aftermath in your home. You’re lucky to be alive after attempting that transmutation and even luckier that whatever that thing was that you created died before it could have killed you.”

“She wouldn’t have hurt us! Mom--” Castiel began to shout at him. Rage coursing through his veins at this stanger’s accusations but he was cut off as the man grabbed him roughly by the thin shirt he was wearing despite Bobby’s growled protests.

The man brought his face close enough that Castiel could feel the tickle of his breath against his skin. “That thing was _not_ your mother,” he said lowly, “It was an abomination that would have turned on you if it hadn’t wasted away. There is a reason that branch of alchemy is forbidden.” He shook Castiel sharply and pointed over at Jimmy’s bed. “Look what it cost you and your brother; tell me, was it worth it? Was that monster worth what you paid?”

Castiel looked over at his brother. Jimmy’s sightless eyes stared vaguely in their direction and it was obvious that he was frightened and confused, unable to tell what was going on around him. Horrible pangs of guilt racked him as he looked at what he’d done to his brother, his twin. This was his fault.

All of this was his fault.

He turned back to the man, meeting his gaze. His eyes burned with anger and purpose. “No, it was a mistake and I will put it right.”

And he meant it. Even if it took everything he had, hell maybe even if it took him the rest of his life, he would find a way to restore his brother’s body and sight. It was the very least he could do for causing Jimmy so much pain.

Releasing his grip on Castiel’s shirt, the man stood up. His face was impassive for a few minutes before he nodded. “Alright then,” he said as he turned and walked towards the door. “We’re all on the same page, I expect to see you boys once you’re done healing.” He paused and handed Bobby a slip of paper whose eyebrows rose as he read what was on it. “You’ll find me at this address.”

Confusion and frustration warred inside him as Castiel struggled to sit up. “What does that even mean?” he asked, glaring at this strange man from the military who knew more about what happened than he should. “What do think we’re going to do and more importantly, who the hell are you?”

The man stopped at the door and turned to face him. “My name is Colonel Fergus Crowley and I’m the man who’s going to help you two to acquire what you need to restore yourselves,” he replied, raising a brow at Castiel. “It won’t be easy and I certainly won’t be giving you a free ride but I think that we can help each other.”

Castiel opened his mouth to argue, to say that they didn’t need his help when Crowley stopped him with a raised hand.

“Take some time to think about it,” he said, glancing pointedly over towards Jimmy’s bed before looking back at him. “Hopefully you’ll make the smart choice.”

Castiel glared at his back as he left, glad that he was leaving but the spark of interest that his offer had kindled had remained for days.

Right up until the day he walked into Eastern Command.


	2. The Ultimatum

“Couldn’t I have just stayed back at the house?” Jimmy sighed as they stood in front of the impressive doors of the Eastern Command building.

Jimmy couldn’t see the eyeroll that Cas gave him but years of experience told him that if by some miracle he were to regain his sight right then and there, he’d be graced with the sight of his brother pulling a face of tired annoyance. 

He was able to sense the shift in energy that heralded Cas shaking his head at him. One of the benefits of being a blind alchemist was not having to settle for only having his remaining senses sharpen after his loss of sight. It had taken about a year and half of practice and research but eventually he and Cas had found a way to combine alchemy and alkahestry to allow him to use the natural energy in objects to ‘see’ where things were. Jimmy liked to call it his bat-sense, a phrase that, while Cas saw it as a cheesy bad joke, always made Dean laugh.

And Jimmy loved making Dean laugh.

Like this morning when Dean had stumbled into the house, the heavy thud of his feet and the slump of his form telling Jimmy just how tired he was despite his brushoff of Bobby’s concern. Jimmy would be willing to bet he’d looked delightfully disheveled and resolved to ask Cas for details later. Over the noises of breakfast being made, Jimmy heard the clank of metal.

“Well, it took all night but here they are,” Dean had said through a yawn, walking over to the table. Bobby protested as Dean set Jimmy and Cas’ automail on the table. He’d caught a whiff of fresh welds and grease. “Let’s get these reattached so you guys aren’t running around one handed.”

Knowing what was the next stage of their maintenance, Jimmy had chuckled. “No, you should leave them while you take our legs,” he said enthusiastically. “Then me and Cas can quit the military and be pirates, all peg legs and hooks.”

So it hadn’t been his material but in his defense, he was still groggy. Besides, it had made Dean laugh though that might have had something to do with him not having slept in twenty four hours. That sound had helped to bolster his spirits which had been down ever since Cas had said they needed to go to see Crowley; he’d thought that the rich tones of Dean’s belly laugh would be enough to get him through the dreaded visit but apparently it only got him to the command center.

“Jimmy, let’s just get inside and get this over with,” Cas sighed, tugging him forward by the sleeve. “The faster we get this done, the faster we can go home.”

Pulling a face of disgust, Jimmy reluctantly followed Cas into the building. 

“Well, look who’s finally back from assignment,” Crowely’s rumbling voice said as they entered his office. Jimmy had always been glad he couldn’t actually see their commanding officer since he was pretty sure he’d want to punch the smarmy dick in the face. According to Dean and Cas, Crowley had a face so smug that it practically begged to be hit; he figured they had to be right considering the guy always strutted around like every piece of ground he touched was his personal kingdom. Like right now as he got up from his desk and walked over to them. “You two were supposed to be back here three weeks ago.”

Cas, back rigidly straight, stepped forward. “You know full well that we were going to investigate the lead you gaves us in Illachago, Colonel,” he said, his tone a delicate balance between forceful and respectful. Jimmy had to admit that Cas was way better than him at dealing with their C.O. than he was since he would have just told the guy to shove it. “In any case, the chimera case took much longer than anticipated; Ellicott was more difficult to locate than we’d expected and there were a few altercations before we were able take him down.”

“Altercations? You meant to say the guy tried to have us eaten, right Cas?” Jimmy said, unable to stop himself from piping up. He glared towards Crowley, letting his displeasure be known. “I wasn’t expecting that part since the intel we were given said the guy wasn’t to the actual creation stages yet but then, maybe I’m remembering wrong.”

Crowley shook his head and walked back around to sit behind his desk, gesturing for them to sit while he did so. “Always with the dramatics, James,” he sighed. “I told you that the military _believed_ he hadn’t been able to actually create any creatures but you should know by now that if the military thinks something, obviously it’s the opposite.”

Jimmy had always been slightly intrigued by the veiled dislike that Crowley appeared to have for the military since it stood to reason that if someone had been in the forces long enough to have the rank of Colonel, obviously they didn’t mind being a part of it. Though to be honest, Jimmy really didn’t give two shits whether Crowley liked his job or not.

The twins sat down in the offered chairs, Jimmy sprawling indolently despite Cas’ cluck of protest. “Well, whatever the reason behind the crappy information, we still got chewed on like dog toys,” Jimmy continued, “So excuse us for having to limp home a slower rate than normal.” 

“You’re lucky that I managed to have Central Command put you two under my jurisdiction, Novak,” Crowley said mildly as he leaned back in his chair. Jimmy sensed an under current of annoyance to his energy despite his attempts to act indifferent and this pleased him. “I know for a fact that any of the other commanding officers would have either court martialed you or had you thrown in the stockade for that smart mouth of yours ages ago.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we’re so lucky that you decided to blackmail us into your service.”

And wasn’t that the damn truth? He and Cas probably would have been able to gimp the rest of their lives in relative peace if it weren’t for the not so veiled threat that Crowley would report them to the authorities for illegal human transmutation. Sure they never would have learned about Metatron’s tablet and the secrets it may hold but honestly, Jimmy would rather be half machine and totally blind for the rest of his life rather than be apart of the Colonel’s little games.

“I prefer to think of it as encouraging you to take advantage of your skills for the benefit of a grateful nation,” Crowley said. Jimmy wrinkled his nose in response to the smug smirk that just had to be on the man’s face. “But we’ve gotten away from our original subject, now do you want the information or not?”

Cas shifted to his right, sitting even straighter in his chair if that were possible; excited energy wafted off of him. Jimmy resisted to mock his twin as Cas piped up, “Yes, what have you found about the tablet?”

Crowley turned his focus onto Cas, not that Jimmy minded being ignored. “Rumor has it that the tablet was acquired in a trade, apparently the previous owner was happy to be rid of it,” he went on to say. “He claimed that it had caused him nothing but trouble.”

“How the hell does a stone tablet cause anyone trouble?” Jimmy said, unable to keep quiet in the face of reasoning so stupid as that. “What’d he do, leave it on the floor and stubbed his toe on it?”

A heavy sigh echoed through the room, most likely from Crowley, and Jimmy could feel Cas glaring at him. “The previous owner claimed that possessing the tablet had caused unwanted attention,” Crowley continued, ignoring his comment. “He wouldn’t specify as to what the form of the attention came in but I assume that he had ambitious alchemists hounding him for time with it.”

“Where is the current owner then?” Cas asked, his body practically vibrating with impatience but unfortunately Jimmy had a sinking feeling that his brother was about to have the rug pulled out from under him. “I’d like to see if they will let us look at it now that we finished our case.”

“Ah, since you brought up the subject…”

There it is.

Jimmy sighed and slumped even further into his chair, waiting for Crowley’s demands. He didn’t need his alchemy to feel Cas crumpling beside him. An intense desire to punch the Colonel in the face washed over him. He had long since come to terms with the fact that they were Crowley’s little puppets but for some unknown reason, Cas seemed to believe that if they worked hard enough they would get what they’d ‘earned’. 

Honestly, Jimmy was starting to suspect the Colonel didn’t even know anything about the tablet and he just threw a dart at a map of the country to choose the next city “rumor” had sighted it.

“I have a little matter I’d like you to boys to look into for me,” Crowley said. A drawer rattled open right before Jimmy heard a dull thud that he assumed was a heavy folder landing on the Colonel’s desk. “I’ve taken the liberty of putting a dossier together for you.” More rustling of papers. “This is Charles Magnus. There have been several reports of missing vagrants in his area of Minneanna and my sources tell me that he’s been doing an uncomfortable amount of research into philosopher's stones.”

Jimmy sat up in his chair. Okay, that definitely wasn’t good..

The study of philosopher’s stones was a tricky area when it came to alchemy. Studying the subject wasn’t banned but the actual creation was banned. A large portion of the alchemical community felt that studying the stone was crucial to becoming a well rounded alchemist since it was a good lesson on the principle of sacrifice and its consequences but also agreed that the creation of stones was completely abhorrent. A smaller sect of alchemists wanted the study to be treated like that of human transmutation and be banned.

This made complete sense since the main ingredient in a philosopher's stone was human life.

Despite the fact that Jimmy hated the Colonel and his stupid assignments, even he had to admit that someone messing with philosopher’s stones was bad news

“I see; that does sound unsettling,” Cas said, his body slipping back into its previous stiff posture. Jimmy felt the movement of him taking the file from Crowley. “We will look into this matter immediately.”

Jimmy couldn’t find it in himself to be upset about Cas accepting the assignment, not when it involved something dangerous like this, though he could have done without the smug tone from the Colonel as he started speaking again.

“I thought this one might catch your interest,” Crowley said as if they truly had any choice, leaning back in his chair again causing the chair to squeak. “Head up to Minneanna and look into this ASAP; when you return, I’ll have the information on the tablet ready for you.”

Deciding that he’d had his fill of the sneaky bastard and realizing now was the time to make a quick getaway, Jimmy stood up and sketched their commanding officer a sarcastic salute. “Well, then I guess we better get started,” he said, reaching down to pull Cas up and out of his chair by the back of his uniform. “It’s been an absolute treat as always, Colonel.”

By some miracle, Crowley let them escape with relative ease and soon they were stepping out onto the street. They started the walk home in silence; Jimmy knew without even sensing energy that Cas’s nose was buried in the file they’d just received and it would be useless to try and talk to him. Once his brother was in research mode, he was more likely to get an answer out of a wooden post.

It wasn’t until they were almost home that Jimmy froze as he realized that they were going to have a problem.

“Oh, shit; Dean is going to murder us,” he said. In his shock, Jimmy stopped abruptly in the middle of the road causing Cas, who was still distracted by the Magnus file, to run right into his back. Jimmy quickly righted them both before they tumbled into the dirt.

Cas’ warm hands patted Jimmy’s back restlessly as if he expected him to be injured by a bump. “Why would he murder us? We’ve actually gone almost a whole day without damaging our automail,” Cas said. Jimmy didn’t say anything, just waited for his twin’s brain to catch up; when it did, he felt Cas tense. “Oh.”

Jimmy turned so they were facing and crossed his arms while nodding. “Yeah, oh,” Jimmy said. He shook his head and gestured in the direction they’d came. “We’ve been home for one day and we’ve already managed to land ourselves with another assignment.” He ran a hand through his hair and chuckled ruefully. “One that’s going to take us the western provinces to boot.”

The western portion of the country was a major clusterfuck at present, what with all the enemy combatants trying to invade the place and seeing how much Dean hated anything to do with military violence…..

“He is going to kill us,” Cas said as he walked over and slumped against him. A beat of silence filled the air before Cas sighed. “I hate disappointing him.”

Any residual anger and annoyance Jimmy had over Cas willingly going along with Crowley’s dog and pony show earlier evaporated as he felt the tired weight of his twin against him. How could he be angry at Cas for doing what needed to be done to turn them back to normal? It was obvious that Cas still felt guilty over what had happened all those years ago even though Jimmy told him that he’d been just as responsible; this guilt was decidedly worse if Cas felt that he’d failed Jimmy in some way. 

And they both felt like shit if they let Dean down.

After a quick scan to confirm that there were no other people around, Jimmy cupped Cas’ cheek and gave him a soft kiss. It took a few more before Cas seemed calmer; Jimmy broke away and rested their foreheads together.

“I’m not going to lie, Dean is going to be mad but we know it’s only because he cares about us,” he said, trying to be reassuring though he knew the conversation back at Bobby’s was going to be horribly unpleasant. He gave Cas a kiss on the cheek before leaning back and started walking on, pulling his brother with him. “Besides, with our fancily repaired automail, we’ll probably take this Magnus guy down easily,” he continued in a jovial tone. “Then all we’ll have to do is borrow the damn tablet from whoever the lucky bastard is who owns it now and we can resign from the fucking military.” He waved a hand through the air and grinned. “Just imagine it, Cas...no more pain in the ass Crowley and no more uniforms; it’ll be paradise.”

A shrewd observer would have taken note that Jimmy didn’t mention the two of them being healed in his little view of the future. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe his brother could do it, Cas was one of the foremost alchemical minds in the country, but that he didn’t believer there was a way to reverse this much damage.

Besides, after what they did, they were lucky to be alive.

All in all this little speech appeared to have the desired effect. Cas perked up quite a bit and they talked about anything but their impending departure the rest of the way home.

 

“What the fuck do you mean you’re leaving?!”

Jimmy flinched as Dean shouted. “Hey, watch the volume, big guy,” he said, trying to lighten the mood though he suspected jokes wouldn’t help him this time but he figured it was worth a shot. “I’m already blind, I don’t need to be deaf too.”

The original plan to tell Dean once he’d had a chance to sleep had been blown out of the water. In their defense, what person can stay up for over twenty four hours and not be completely knocked out once they fall asleep?

If they had known that such person did exist and that his name was Dean Winchester, maybe the twins wouldn’t have tried to have a quite conversation with Bobby about having to leave in the next day or two for their next assignment while their mechanic slept like a rock (or so they’d thought) in the livingroom. There weren’t words to describe how shocked Cas and Jimmy were when Dean, hair sticking up a while angles with one side of his face covered in pillow creases, popped up over the back of the couch.

Obviously Jimmy hadn’t seen his face but the quiet, fearful whimper from his brother told him all he needed to know about Dean’s face. 

They’d been in hot water ever since.

“Don’t try and be funny, Jimmy,” Dean said, rounding on him and pointing a finger viciously at his face. “I’m not in any mood for your attempts at being cute; I am so fucking pissed.”

“Dean,” Cas said, his voice soft and soothing. He held his hands out towards Dean but didn’t touch him which was probably a good idea. “Believe us, we didn’t want this anymore than you did but...we have to; if we do this, we’ll have the name of the person who actually owns Metatron’s tablet.”

Sighing loudly, Dean sank into a chair and ran a hand through his hair. “I know but seriously, guys; you just got back.”

The despondent tone of his voice stabbed at Jimmy and he felt a huge tidal wave of guilt. He wasn’t sure how Cas, who could see what had to be the horrible expression of dismay on Dean’s face, didn’t fall to his knees and start begging for ways to make it up to him. 

Fuck Crowley and his stupid assignments.

“We won’t be gone long,” Jimmy said in an attempt to pull off another save like he had on Cas when they were walking home. He walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “A few days maybe a week and we’ll be back and you can yell at us about our automail. It’s not like we like being on the road so we’ll be itching to get back home.”

The ‘to you’ went unspoken.

Dean snorted. “Yeah and you won’t waltz back in here for another month, all broken up after going ten rounds with whatever psycho that sawnoff little prick is sending you after,” he grumbled as he stood up and brushed off Jimmy’s hand. He trudged over to the stairs that led upstairs, throwing over his shoulder as he went, “I’m going to bed, tell Bobby I’m not hungry.”

Jimmy flinched at the slam of Dean’s bedroom door. 

“Well, that could have gone better,” Bobby, who’d disappeared to make an early dinner after Dean’s fury had been ignited, offered as he came back into the room. He paused, probably taking in the dejected looks on their faces. “Oh, enough moping. You know that Dean gets like this when you leave; he’ll pout for a bit but he’ll wish you luck all the same before you leave.” Dishes thumped as Bobby set the table. “Now get over here and help me get dinner ready.”

 

Later that night, Jimmy was laying on one of the two beds in their bedroom with his head in Cas’ lap as he listened to his brother read the case file; he was lost in thought about the events before dinner and only half listening to what Cas was saying which was probably why he didn’t notice that someone was at their door until a knock sounded.

The twins scrambled into a non-incriminating position and Cas called out that the door was unlocked.

It was Dean.

His posture was stiff but Jimmy noticed that he wasn’t moving in a way the indicated anger or frustration; in fact, he noticed with growing wariness, Dean seemed almost at ease.

“Hey, uh, I wanted to apologize for blowing up at you two earlier,” Dean said, shuffling his feet sheepishly as he stood in the doorway as if they were going to hit him with some alchemy in retaliation for being yelled at. Rolling his eyes, Jimmy motioned for him to come in. 

Once he was in the door, he sat down in one of the desk chairs. His posture was strangely determined and Jimmy wished for once that twin telepathy was a real thing so he could warn Cas that something was definitely up. He also had one of those rare longings for his sight so he could see Dean’s face. It had to be much easier to guess what he was up to if he had a visual of his expression.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Cas replied. He set aside the case file and shut the folder. “We know that you aren’t really mad at us but at the situation. It’s an unfortunate turn of events but like Jimmy said, we’ll complete our assignment as soon as possible and be back before you know it.” There was a pause in which Jimmy was sure Cas was smiling softly at Dean. “You’ll see us soon.”

Something about this response had Dean sitting up even straighter which added to the growing sense of suspicion in Jimmy’s gut. 

“Oh yeah, you’ll be seeing me soon,” Dean said, his voice pleasant but with an undercurrent of steel that Jimmy knew didn’t mean good things for them, “Because I’m going with you.”

Well, they hadn’t been expecting that.

“Oh no,” Jimmy said, waving his hands in front of him. “No way are you coming with us; have you seen the absolute assholes and psychos Crowley sends us after? Shit, you’ve seen what these assignments do to us. We can’t expose you to that.”

_We can’t risk_ you _like that._

Dean crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, chuckling lowly. “Well, the thing is Jimmy,” he said. “I’m not asking your permission. I’m a grown man and last I checked, I could travel wherever I wanted so you really can’t stop me.” 

“Dean,” Cas said as he held out his hands in an almost pleading gesture. “What we do is extremely dangerous and if you came with us you could get injured, if not outright killed. Please be reasonable.”

“I’m actually being very reasonable,” Dean said as he stood up and started pacing across the small space of the room. “You two are super rough on your automail and it needs to be looked more often, probably on a daily basis; I would feel better knowing that you’re being looked after since that means I don’t have to worry about you two wandering around with broken automail on one of your assignments.” 

Jimmy’s mind was working on overdrive. They couldn’t let Dean go through with his plan; the situations they found themselves in were dangerous for licensed and experienced alchemists. What would Dean have done when they were fighting Ellicott’s chimera? Thrown a wrench at it? Bobby would kill them if they got Dean killed.

Bobby…

“Have you talked to Bobby about this?” Jimmy asked, hoping that he would see Dean’s shoulders slump at the mention of his honorary uncle. There was no way he’d let Dean do something so dangerous. 

“Actually, yes,” Dean responded with a tone so smug he could almost picture the smile that went with it. He walked over and sat down on Jimmy’s bed, leaning back on his palms. “I went to him first and he said that it was actually a good idea since ‘those idjits’ need looked after.” When neither Cas or Jimmy had anything to say in response he continued. “Guys, it’s not like I’m going to follow out into the field to hunt the crazy people; I’ll just tag along and hang back to fix the damage afterward.”

None of them spoke for a few beats as Jimmy, and Cas too more than likely, raked his mind for a way to make Dean stay home but the longer he thought about it, the more he knew that it was pointless. They were talking about the guy who once spent a whole night at the kitchen table as a kid because he didn’t want to eat his vegetables. If it weren’t for the fact Bobby finally let him leave because the chores needed done, Jimmy suspected Dean would still be in the same spot. 

Dean Winchester was the very definition of stubborn mule.

At this point they wouldn’t be able to stop him but it was possible they could score a few ground rules.

“You’re right, we can’t stop you,” Jimmy said, breaking the silence. He slid forward until his feet could rest on the floor and he faced Dean fully so that he had his attention. “But if you’re coming with us, there’s going to be a couple rules.” He raised a hand and counted off. “One, if we find that the mission approaches unacceptable levels of danger, we can send you home for a bit. Two, you will stay in the hotel room unless Cas and I are with you once we reach Minneanna. The man we’re after is highly dangerous.”

There was a tense moment when Jimmy thought that Dean would fight him on the rules but to his relief, he nodded.

“That sounds fair,” Dean said, sitting up and held out his hand to shake. “It’s a deal.” He stood up, light on his feet in the face of his victory, and walked over to the door only pausing when he got to the door. “I’ll get my stuff packed.”

The door shut, leaving the twins in silence to wonder what the hell had just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go, chapter two :D
> 
> Hopefully I explained it well enough in the chapter but just in case it helps, Jimmy's vision is sort of like Toph from Avatar. Using his knowledge of alchemy and energy, he's able to see shapes and movement but not details like facial expressions. I'm not going to lie, writing for Jimmy is a bit difficult so if you catch me mentioning things like colors or something like that because I forgot what I was doing, give me a shout so I can fix it. :)


	3. Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter note: Possible Trigger warning. This chapter contains a flashback to multiple off screen character deaths. The delivery of the news concerning the deaths could be upsetting. If this is an issue, please stop reading after ‘Ten years ago’ and pick up again after the next big break in the text. I will put a note in the bottom giving a brief summary of what happened.
> 
> Cas and Jimmy's mom is Anna if you want a visual.

“Next stop, Minneanna! Minneanna station next!”

Cas was shaken out of his doze by the shout of the train attendant as he walked down the length of the car. He opened his eyes just in time to see a flash of his blue uniform disappearing through the door. Sighing tiredly, he started to stretch in hopes of getting rid of the knots in his back; he was twisting from side to side when the sight of Dean sleeping on the seat across the aisle startled him.

At first he couldn’t understand what Dean was doing on a military transport train but as the cobwebs of sleep cleared from his brain, Cas remembered the conversation from a few nights ago. Dean basically forced him and Jimmy to take him along with them. The twins had attempted several times over the following days to get Dean to see reason. Unfortunately they were not successful and when they finally packed their duffels and left Bobby’s, Dean came with them.

A selfish part of him was excited to have Dean along, one of the worse things about leaving on missions was not being able to see him for weeks. Despite this, that part of him felt a horrible feeling of anxiousness as he saw Dean’s sleep softened features juxtaposed with the harsh, bare military train car. It would kill him, as well as Jimmy, if something were to happen to him on their watch.

“I can hear you thinking, Cas,” Jimmy’s sleep roughened voice sounded next to his ear. Cas turned to see his brother’s head tilted back over the seat behind him. Normally he and Jimmy would have shared a set of facing seats, one of them on the front facing seat and one on the rear facing one with their feet kicked up on the opposite end of the bench, but Cas had pointed out that being that close when they had the entire train car to themselves might look a bit odd. 

Jimmy had not been happy about the decision.

There was a clank of metal that heralded Jimmy hefting himself out of his seat and walking around to sit next to Cas. He wrapped an arm around him to pull him into a half-hug. The thought that this was a close as they could be for the time being slid across Castiel’s mind and caused a small pang of longing under his ribs. 

“We’ll keep him safe,” Jimmy said quietly into his hair. “He’s not going to leave the hotel room and we’ll ward the shit out of it before we leave. Dean will be okay.”

“Mmmm...what?” Dean’s groggy voice interrupted. Cas turned to see him sitting up and stretching. He rubbed his eyes blearily and squinted at them. “You guys talking about me?”

Cas shifted away from Jimmy subtly and turned to face him. “Yes, we were deciding if we should wake you up yet,” he lied with a smile, hoping that Dean had really only heard them mention his name. “Minneanna is the next stop.”

“Finally,” Dean groaned, his hands pressing into the small of his back as he grimaced. There was a series of soft pops as his spine moved and the twins cringed in sympathy. He shook his head at them. “I don’t know how you to do this all the time, these seats are the absolute worst.”

Jimmy’s face brightened at finding someone who shared his hatred of the trains seats and Cas spent the rest of the ride into the Minneanna train station listening to his brother regaling Dean with his many stories and theories concerning the atrocious seating on military transports.

Finding a hotel room was relatively easy -- Crowley did provide them with a healthy stipend for lodgings since, nine times out of ten, whatever assignment he gave them took at least half a week while some of the more complicated cases had taken weeks. The hotel was small and out on the edge of the city, well away from the areas that had reported missing homeless people and therefore away from Charles Magnus’s mischief, so it fulfilled all the requirements that Castiel and Jimmy had agreed their choice should have.

Between the uneventful train ride and their easy entry into the city, Castiel should have known that their luck was bound to run out at some point.

“You mean to tell me you don’t have any rooms that aren’t singles?” Castiel asked incredulously as he stared down the man at the front desk.

The desk manager, who looked like he’d been working for a week straight, sighed and looked at his ledger, flipping pages quickly. “I’m sorry, sir, but it looks like all our double rooms have been booked; I won’t have a double available for at least a week, maybe longer.” He smiled apologetically and Castiel couldn’t help but to feel sorry for him. “I would offer two single rooms for the price of one double but unfortunately I’m down to my last room.”

“What size bed is it?” Jimmy asked from where he was leaning against the counter. Dean was sitting in the lobby with their things, waiting for them to come back with their room keys.

More page flipping ensued until the desk manager landed on the page he was looking for. “A king,” he replied. “I might also be able to scrounge up a cot as well but I can’t make any promises.”

Castiel looked over at Jimmy and tapped his fingers on the wood counter. On one hand, he knew that only having one bed and _maybe_ a cot had the potential to lead to uncomfortable questions and most certainly would mean awkward moments for everyone involved...But on the other hand, this was the only hotel that wasn’t in the middle of the city. When everything was boiled down, it looked like Castiel had to make a choice between comfortable personal boundaries and Dean’s safety.

Which meant it wasn’t much of a choice at all.

Exhaling through his nostrils and hoping that he wasn’t making the wrong decision, Castiel pulled out his wallet and placed the cost of a few days’ stay on the counter. “We’ll take it for four nights,” he said as the man took the money. “We’re here on military business so we might have to extend our stay and we are interested in the cot if it’s possible.”

“Very good, sir,” the manager said with a smile as he handed over the room keys. “I will check to see if we have any cots available. If we do, I will give them to you free of charge. Do you need help with your bags?”

Castiel politely declined and took their room keys before grabbing Jimmy by the arm and ‘escorting’ him away. While most of the time there was no problem with letting Jimmy maneuver on his own using his alchemy, they usually put on a bit of charade when they were on assignment to keep their identities under wraps. 

They’d acquired a slight reputation over their years of working for the Colonel, but thanks to Jimmy’s skills with sensing the presence of energy giving him the ability to move around unassisted, very few people knew that one of Crowley’s attack dog alchemists was blind. Being able to play on Jimmy’s blindness meant that they could travel without raising any suspicions and it allowed them to work more easily.

Dean was still waiting for them when they got back to lobby; he stood up and grabbed his duffel and the large toolbox he’d brought. “So are we all set then?” he asked, handing Castiel the twins’ bags. 

“Yes and no,” Castiel replied. He was fighting the urge to blush as the implications of having only one bed finally sank into his mind, but it was difficult when his brain keep sending him images of himself, Jimmy, and Dean all sleeping in a tangled heap.

Preferably as naked as the day they’d been born.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean asked. “There a problem?”

“It seems there aren’t any rooms except singles available, but we were able to get a king sized bed and the manager is checking to see if we can get a spare cot.” 

Dean swallowed and shuffled in place a bit, needlessly adjusting the strap on his toolbox. A pit of worry opened up in Castiel’s stomach as he realized Dean was extremely uncomfortable with sharing a room with them. He’d opened his mouth to say he’d look into finding them different lodgings but Jimmy interrupted him.

“Is this going to be a problem, Dean?” he outright asked in typical Jimmy fashion. “Because we can work something else out if we have to, but we’d really like to stick to this hotel. It’s one of the safest one’s in the city.”

Jimmy’s question seemed to jog Dean out of whatever odd mood had fallen over him after Castiel’s announcement. He shook his head and held his hands up placatingly. “No, no,” he said with a smile, albeit a slightly strained one. “We’re good. I mean if I have to share a bed with anyone, it would be you guys.” 

There was an awkward beat where none of them spoke right before Dean’s face turned red as what he’d just said sunk in. “Not like...that. It’s just you guys are my best friends so yeah...it would be you two.” 

Another pause took over until Jimmy clapped his hands loudly.

“So, that’s settled then,” he said, as if they hadn’t just had an extremely strange moment in the middle of a hotel lobby. “Let’s get to our room and set up. Me and Cas have a job to get to.”

With the tension finally broken, the three of them trooped up to their room. It really was a nice room for the money they paid but the large bed sat in the middle of the room like the proverbial elephant. It became even more pronouncedly awkward when the manager came up to inform that sadly there were no cots to be found.

“We’ll be fine,” Dean said after the man had left. He was sitting on the bed, bouncing slightly on the mattress like a little kid. “It’s not like we’ve never been in close quarters before. Bobby’s house isn’t exactly a mansion or anything. Hell, you guys practically live on top of each other when you’re on the road, don’t you?”

Only years and years of practice with concealing his and Jimmy’s odd relationship kept Castiel from blushing as his mind took this opportunity to replay some examples of the twins “living on top of each other.” Instead, he laughed in what he hoped was a convincing way and started unpacking their bags. 

“I suppose you’re right, Dean,” he said with an ease that he most certainly did not feel. “We’re grown ups, we can share a bed for a little while.”

Dean smiled at him, bright and enthusiastic, but Castiel swore he saw a slight strain around his eyes that he couldn’t understand no matter how much he racked his brain. A small part of him hoped that maybe Dean’s reservations stemmed from the same issue that he and Jimmy were anxious about being in extremely close quarters with him.

It was highly unlikely, but a man could dream.

 

By the time the room was all set up and they’d ordered some food, it was entirely too dark out for Jimmy and Castiel to start their search for Magnus. Being veterans of travelling the country, the twins had figured that this would happen, so it wasn’t a big loss on their part. They had only planned on getting lodgings and warding said lodgings on their first day in the city, anyway.

Dean sat barefoot and cross legged on the bed, watching them with fascination as Castiel marked the room with energy warding symbols and Jimmy powered them up. By the time they were done, if anyone set foot in this room and attempted to exercise ill-will on any of them, especially Dean, they would most definitely regret it to their dying day.

And thanks to a special alchemical equation Jimmy had constructed, this time frame of regret might not be very long.

“It’s really kinda cool to get a chance to see you guys in action,” Dean said, taking a bite of this dinner. He chewed thoughtfully and waved his fork at all the symbols and formulas that were starting to fade now that Jimmy was done. “I don’t think I’ve seen you guys do your magic hoo-doo since before you joined the military.”

Jimmy laughed and stood up from where he had been energizing the last bit of warding. He walked over and sat down next to Dean and swiped some food, much to its owner’s dismay. “When we get back from these missions, we’re so damn tired of alchemy that it’s a goddamn gift to be able to go back to a place where no one is expecting you to do it all the time,” Jimmy explained through his mouthful. “Isn’t that right, brother?”

Castiel, who had moved onto organizing their information on the case up on the wall, nodded. “It is nice to take a break sometimes, even if they aren’t for very long. 

Snorting derisively, Dean stood up to throw away his garbage. “Three days at home isn’t a break,” he said as he walked over to the room’s garbage can. “The Colonel works you guys too hard.”

“Unfortunately dealing with Crowley is necessary,” Castiel said, tacking up a picture of Charles Magnus up to the map they’d been given that was marked with his known haunts. His eyes travelled over the map as his mind started working on the problem at hand. “Which is why we need to find this man as soon as possible.”

A loud yawn and the clink of metal sounded in the room as Jimmy stretched on the bed. “Well that isn’t going to happen tonight,” he said, interrupting his twin’s thought process. “And I don’t know about you two but I’m beat.” There was a strained pause as the same thought occurred to all three of them only to have Jimmy voice it aloud. “So, how are we doing this one bed thing anyway?”

Saying that the air in the room took on an awkward air would have been a vast understatement. Dean suddenly became very interested in his fingernails while Jimmy plucked at his pants leg, leaving Castiel to actually handle the situation. 

How _were_ they going to do this?

There obviously only three ways for them to arrange themselves. He immediately dismissed asking Dean to be in the middle; that would definitely make him uncomfortable and then there was the risk of unconscious inappropriate touching on his own and Jimmy’s part. It wasn’t that they were going to intentionally molest Dean in his sleep but he and Jimmy always shared a bed when they travelled and, considering the nature of their relationship, there was many a morning each of them woke up to wandering hands. It was entirely too likely that one of them would reach out in the night, thinking the warm body they were clutching at was the other only for it to be Dean.

That would certainly be a disaster.

The second and third options were either Castiel or Jimmy in the middle. This option ran the same risks; either Dean woke up with Castiel or Jimmy wrapped around him or, possibly even worse, he woke up and saw the twins intertwined in a way that was far too intimate for a pair of brothers. 

It seemed that Castiel was going to have to throw himself on the mercy of his own self control; it didn’t feel right to put Jimmy under that kind of stress. His twin had always been the more tactile of them and now that he was sightless, his propensity for touching had gotten even stronger. It would be much harder on Jimmy to resist the urge to curl into the warmth of another person.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Castiel planned on getting much sleep anyway.

“I was thinking that, since I don’t move around very much at night, I would be in the middle and each of you would be on the outside,” Castiel suggested casually as he finished up with his research wall. He turned to see Jimmy and Dean still sitting awkwardly on the bed. “Does anyone have any objections?”

“Nope, that sounds good to me,” Jimmy said while Dean shook his head indicating he was fine with this plan.

With the matter settled, they all started getting ready to bed and soon they were standing next to the bed dressed in their sleep clothes. Dean was eyeing the object in question as if it were a snake that was going to bite him, a sentiment Castiel shared with him. A few seconds passed before Castiel gathered his nerves and crawled into the center of the mattress and shimmied under the covers. Jimmy followed after on his left but Dean still hesitated, causing Castiel’s stomach to twist nervously. 

“Dean,” he said softly, noticing the strained look on his face, “if this is bothering you, please tell me. We’ll go and talk to the desk manager, maybe there’s a spare mattress we can have--”

“No, it’s not--it’s not that,” Dean finally said. Castiel was alarmed to see an almost haunted expression painted over his features. His eyes had a far away cast to them that worried him greatly. Dean ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. “I’m just...this is making me think of the last time we had a sleepover.”

Oh.

Suddenly Dean’s unusual mood made complete sense.

_Ten years ago_

Castiel had stirred awake at the sound of a loud boom echoing across the hills but had quickly fallen back to sleep, tucked between Jimmy and Dean. This was a common occurrence lately and no longer bothered him; rebel forces had been trying to infringe on the eastern province for years now so the sound of far off military strikes didn’t faze him anymore. He’d been hearing it for most of his life.

No, what woke him was the harshing ringing of the telephone and the soft sound of his mother’s voice.

“Yes, that one woke me out of a dead sleep; was there any damage?”

Silence as his mother listened to whomever had called so late.

“Oh...oh god. Are you s---”

She quieted. Castiel was fully awake now and curious as to what was the matter. Jimmy snuffled in his sleep and snuggled more firmly into his side. 

“Yes, yes. Dean’s here, he’s safe. The boys had him over for a sleepover…”

More silence. It grew and had an ominous tinge to it that Castiel really didn’t like. He wished that he wasn’t awake, that he was asleep like Dean and Jimmy but now, he had to know what was wrong.

Because something was definitely wrong.

“Should--should I tell him? Maybe we should let him sleep, tell him in the morning…” Another pause. “No, I suppose you’re right, Bobby. There really isn’t a good time to tell him, is there?”

This last bit of his mother’s side of the conversation caused Castiel’s heart to start beating rapidly. He’d never heard his mother sound so sad. He listened anxiously as his mother finished her conversation with Bobby, telling him that she’d wake Dean up and they’d be waiting for him on the porch.

At the sound of the receiver being hung up and his mother’s light footsteps echoing down the hall towards his and Jimmy’s room, Castiel scrambled under his blanket and shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep. The door to the room opened and soft light shone from the hallway, light shining through his eyelids. 

Her footsteps got closer and she rounded the bed to Dean’s side. Castiel held his breathe as she spoke softly.

“Dean, sweetie,” she said quietly. There was a gentle movement on the mattress as she probably shook his shoulder. Castiel risked a peek and immediately wished he hadn’t; his mother looked pale and frightened. “Dean, I need you to get up. Your uncle is coming to get you.”

“Mm--why?” He heard Dean mumble sleepily. Dean didn’t like to be woken up and always resisted. 

His mother was quiet for a second. “I’m not sure, honey,” she lied. “But he’s on his way to get you so why don’t you go downstairs and I’ll gather you things for you, okay?”

Castiel shut his eyes again as Dean started to turn to look at him and Jimmy. “What about our sleepover?” he asked, “Can I tell Cas and Jimmy goodbye?”

Yet another silence as his mother thought. “I’ll tell them you said goodbye, how about that?”

“I guess so,” Dean said gloomily. A sudden jostling of the mattress indicated him making his way out of the bed. Castiel heard the sounds of his mother rummaging through the room as she picked up Dean’s things. A few minutes later they were walking out into the hall and the door was shut again.

Alone in the dark, Castiel opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He looked over at where Jimmy still slept, completely unaware of the strange thing that had just happened. Snuggling into his twin, Castiel tried to fall back asleep as he listened to the rhythmic sound of Jimmy’s breathing; he wanted to completely forget what he’d just seen and heard. It worked and soon he fell into a deep sleep; when he woke up, he almost didn’t remember the odd events of the night before.

That morning over breakfast, their mother sat them down and quietly explained that Dean’s family had died the night before.

It had been a rebel artillery strike. According to the military report, a surprise attack had been unleashed on their area of the province. The heaviest of the fire had been focused several miles away from their own house and, during the course of the fighting, rebel fire had hit the Winchester home. 

The building had been completely obliterated. 

 

“Shit,” Jimmy said from behind him, bringing him out of his memories of that dark time, the first of many unfortunately. “Dean, we didn’t even think of that.”

Dean shrugged, looking down at the bed. “Wouldn’t have expected you to,” he mumbled. “It’s been ten years after all, you’d think I’d have gotten over that by this point.”

Not believing what he was hearing, Castiel pushed off the blanket and knelt on the bed in front of him. Dean still wouldn’t look at him. “They were your family, Dean. No one expects you to just ‘get over it’,” he said firmly, his mouth twisting over the phrase. “You are allowed to be upset when something reminds you of them.”

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Dean shook his head. “I know that, Cas,” he said. He was practically glaring at the bed now. “But I can’t let it get to me; I mean, it’s just a damn bed.”

“Maybe now isn’t the---”

‘Time to push your boundaries’ had been what Castiel had meant to say only for his twin to speak up.

“Well, if you’re that determined to work your way through this,” Jimmy interrupted, rubbing at his face tiredly with one hand as he tugged at the blankets with the other, “There’s no time like the present. Hop in and let’s get some sleep.”

He patted at the now empty middle section of the bed. Castiel, worried that this wasn’t the best way of going about Dean’s problem, opened his mouth to suggest that they discuss the issue more but to his surprise, Dean did as he was told. 

Then Castiel went from surprise to shock as Dean took the middle of the bed, shimmying under the blankets and lying down.

Dean looked at him expectantly, holding out the corner of the blanket for Castiel to climb under. Heart pounding, he obliged and carefully arranged himself at a safe distance. He could feel Dean laying next to him, his body tense; Castiel glanced over to see him staring towards the ceiling while the muscles of his jaw tensed and untensed.

“Dean, are you sure---”

Green eyes met his; they were determined but Castiel could see more than a hint of worry and fear in them. “I’ll be fine, Cas,” Dean said, giving him a small smile. He patted him on the arm. “Now stop worrying about me and get to sleep; you guys have a psycho to hunt down tomorrow.”

Castiel heard Jimmy chuckle softly on the other side of Dean. “That has to be the most unmotivating reason to go to sleep I’ve ever heard.”

They all laughed quietly for a second and Castiel was please to see Dean truly relaxing. He pulled the blanket up and reluctantly turned to his one side, putting just an extra smidge of space between him and Dean just in case his body got any bright ideas. There was a faint shuffling off to the side as Jimmy turned off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness. 

He could still feel the inviting warmth of Dean’s body heat at his back; he sighed silently to himself as Dean shifted as he got comfortable, the movement bringing him closer to him.

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Ten years ago, Dean goes to Jimmy and Cas’ house for a sleepover. In the middle of the night Cas is woken up by the phone ringing and his mother talking to someone. From her side of the conversation Cas suspects something is wrong and is frightened, especially when she comes into the room right afterward and wakes up Dean and takes him away. The next morning she explains that Dean’s family had been killed when a rebel artillery strike hit their home, destroying the house and killing everyone inside.
> 
> I've always had a fear of late night phone calls and to this day, if I hear a phone ring in the middle of the night, I start to freak out until I know that the reason for it isn't horrible. Not sure why I'm this way but it freaks me out enough that I was worried about freaking others out, hence the pre-chapter warning.
> 
> Sorry for the sad-ish chapter but it's a story that had to be told. The next chapter is a bit more up beat so at least there's that, I guess :)


	4. Stress Fractures

Waking up with an arm slung over his chest wasn’t an unheard of situation so at first, Jimmy didn’t realize anything was amiss. His internal clock told him it was still the early hours of the morning so he’d decided he could get a bit more sleep, lazily snuggling down into the mattress. Just as he started to drift off again, he noticed a small fact that caused him to freeze in surprise.

The arm across his chest wasn’t metal.

Every nerve in his body was suddenly on high alert as Jimmy realized that Dean was the one pressed up alongside him. His mind quickly replayed the events of the night before, thereby reminding him that Dean ended up taking the spot next to him in the bed.

The light puffs of air on his face weren’t from Cas snuggling in close to him during the night which could only mean that the face mere inches from his own was Dean’s. 

Jimmy had never cursed his lack of sight more than in this moment.

This was an unheard of opportunity to look at Dean up close and of course it had to happen to the twin that couldn’t take advantage of it. Sure he could imagine what his sleep softened features looked like but Dean’s face wasn’t very clear in his mind to begin with; in fact the mental image Jimmy had of Dean could be completely wrong. His memories of Dean before the transmutation and the, albeit vivid, details Cas shared with him were all that his imagination had to go on. 

Jimmy was really starting to get into his angry pout when Dean pressed in closer, nuzzling his face against the fabric of Jimmy’s shirt and tightening his hold in his chest, and suddenly he forgot why he was angry.

This was fucking awesome. All that was missing was Cas’ limbs in the mix and Jimmy would love to wake up like this every morning…

...but this wasn’t real.

Then, to make matters worse, Dean shifted again and hooked at leg over Jimmy’s thigh. He froze as Dean’s leg came to rest entirely too close to his crotch. Jimmy gulped as his morning wood took entirely too much interest in this sequence of events.

Time to make an escape to avoid what would have to be an extremely awkward wake up call.

Sighing softly and mentally smacking himself for what he was about to do, Jimmy started to slowly work himself free of Dean’s extremely enticing embrace; he shimmied free and, after casting out his awareness for a pillow, situated it in Dean’s arms so he didn’t wake up.

He stood there for a minute observing the lumps in the bed that Jimmy knew to be his brother and Dean, wishing that he hadn’t woken up and was still locked in that pleasant cage of limbs, but maybe it was for the best. Dean was already having a hard time with this whole bed sharing situation, adding awkward moments and uncomfortable feelings wouldn’t help at all. 

Deciding that it would suck to be caught creeping, the only term he could think of to describe what he was doing since ‘staring’ obviously didn't qualify, Jimmy shuffled towards the bathroom; he grabbed some clothes and his toiletries bag on his way.

Might as well take care of his problem before the other two woke up.

Jimmy shucked his clothes and started the water. He rubbed at his face as the water heated up, making a mental note to shave considering he and Cas would be talking to civilians; it would probably be a good idea to ‘appear respectable’ as his brother would put it.

Sighing at the feel of hot water sliding down his back as he got into the shower, Jimmy started washing his hair. He pointedly ignored his erection, wanting to drag the process out since he wasn’t sure how often he’d get to do this, but once the suds were out of his hair, he couldn’t resist sliding a hand down to caress the skin at the base of his cock.

His mind took him back to the bed and he imagined what it would feel like to have Dean’s hand slide down his chest, his fingertips sneaking down the front of his sleep pants. Imagined what it would be like to have both Dean and Cas reaching down to touch him. Jimmy moaned softly as he gripped himself and started stroking. Cas would be demanding like usual but Jimmy liked to think that Dean would be softer, that when their mouths finally met he would open up for him eagerly and let him do what he wanted. 

And boy did he want to do a few things...

“Enjoying yourself, Jimmy?”

“Fuck!” Jimmy’s heart pounded as he realized Cas had snuck in on him. “Dammit, Cas. Don’t sneak up on the blind guy like that.”

Cas chuckled lowly. “My sneaking up on you had absolutely nothing to do with your lack of sight.” His voice moved closer to the shower and lowered. “It’s because you were too busy touching yourself to notice.”

Jimmy shivered. Damn that fucking voice of his; Cas knew exactly how much he liked it when he talked to him in that sexy tone. Remembering the hand he currently had wrapped around his dick, Jimmy gave himself a slight squeeze. 

“I bet you’re all pent up, aren’t you?” Cas continued. It was completely obvious that he was enjoying himself; Jimmy could sense he was hovering by the shower, probably trying to catch a glimpse of him through the fabric. “We haven’t had sex in days and we both know you can’t go that long without coming.”

He stroked himself with long and languid movements now; heat was already starting to curl in his lower belly, much faster than was normal. Cas wasn’t wrong. Jimmy had already been feeling the strain of not getting to be with his twin but in his defense, when they were on the road, they had a very active sex life. His body had obviously started to equate hotel rooms with sex and it was not happy at the change in normal procedure.

The normal procedure such as them fucking at the earliest opportunity once they were in their room. Jimmy groaned softly at the memory of the last time they’d been together, Cas pinning him to the wall chest first, his hands gripping Jimmy’s hips tightly as he pounded into him.

Add in the fact that he spent the night attempting to ignore the fact that one of the objects of his filthiest fantasies was actually sleeping next to him and that he woke up with this person’s arms wrapped around him and a thigh over his own, well...it didn’t exactly help cool him off.

“Stop for a second,” Cas ordered, bringing Jimmy back to reality. There was a slight hitch in his voice and he realized Cas was jerking off too; the thought made him shudder. “We’re going to make this count.”

He grumbled under his breath but did as he was told, his cock throbbing forlornly as his hand stopped. Jimmy leaned forward and rested his forehead on the shower wall to calm himself down. When Cas said he wanted to make something count, it inevitably meant that he wanted to bring him to he edge and leave him hanging there for as long as he could.

“Good,” Cas said, probably watching his shadow move behind the curtain. “Now, start again, slowly.”

“I hate you,” Jimmy grumbled several minutes later, his hand starting to move again for what felt like the hundredth time; the movement over his sensitive flesh causing sparks to tingle up and down his spine when paired with the trickling down his spine. Cas had him starting and stopping at random intervals and it was slowly driving him crazy.

That damn deep chuckle again. “No you don’t,” came the reply on the other side of the curtain. “You love me and you love this; the slow build, feeling that heat curling in tighter and tighter on itself, how soon each stroke starts to seem like it will be the last only for you to hover agonizingly close.”

Panting, Jimmy had to fight to keep his movements slow and steady. He wasn’t just stroking now, his hips were rolling smoothly into the tunnel of his hand. His eyes squeezed tightly shut as he concentrated on Cas’ voice in an attempt to ignore the blazing, tingling sensation washing over him.

The sound of a muffled groan filtered through the curtain and Jimmy smiled at the thought of Cas’ little speech amping him up too. This smug feeling was obliterated when a particularly nice downstroke had him groaning right before a hand suddenly shot through the curtain to cover his mouth.

“Have to be quiet, Jimmy,” Cas reminded him softly. “Can’t risk having Dean hear us.”

Holy shit.

If Jimmy had thought he was close before, that was nothing compared to how he felt after realizing all that separated them from Dean was a flimsy door. What if Dean came in and saw them like this, Jimmy masturbating while Cas held a hand over his mouth, his own hard cock most likely exposed? He’d probably be disgusted at how depraved they were…

...but what if he wasn’t?

His hand was flying over his length now, his entire body starting to tighten in anticipation. He was almost there.

He opened his mouth to ask for permission to come but remembered the hand on his mouth and realized that since it wasn’t automail it was the hand Cas hand been using to get himself off. His tongue slipped between his lips and he tasted the familiar salty tang of Cas.

At the thought of his twin using his precome coated hand to stifle his moans so he wouldn’t be heard by Dean, the dam finally broke and Jimmy came, his helpless noises muffled by Cas as he fisted his erection frantically. He rode the wave of tingling pleasure until he needed to catch his weight against the wall of the shower; his actual leg felt pleasantly loose so he shifted onto his prosthetic. The hand on his mouth disappeared. 

As his breathing started to calm down he could hear the desperate sounds Cas was trying to contain over the slick sound of him stroking himself and the water of the shower. This only lasted for several seconds before Cas found his own orgasm with a shuddering inhale. Jimmy smiled lazily at the sound, one of his favorite to hear from his twin.

Shame he wouldn’t get to hear it more often over the course of the next few days.

Eventually, Jimmy surrendered the shower to Cas; his brother probably would benefit from a shower to wash away the evidence of their little session. He tied his towel around his waist and brushed his teeth before slipping out the bathroom door. His senses told him that Dean was still in bed but he couldn’t tell if he was sleeping or not.

“I was wondering where you two had disappeared to,” Dean said, answering the question for him. He shifted and sat up in bed, stretching before leaning against the headboard languidly. “I figured one of you was in the shower, didn’t realize you were both in there.”

Jimmy chuckled in response as spike of fear that shot through his body; he covered his nerves by rummaging through his bag for his clothes. “Yeah, when you travel as much as we do, personal boundaries sort of disappear,” he said as he pulled out his uniform and laid in on a chair. “That and nine times out of ten we both are getting ready at the same time so we figured, why not have one shower while the other shaves and all that other shit?” 

He almost untied the towel and started dressing but remembered who was in the room with him at the last minute; it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for him to flash Dean his goody bits. After a bit of thought and some trial and error, Jimmy managed to wriggle into his underwear and pants while keeping the towel in place. 

“Yeah,” Dean said slowly after an oddly long pause. Jimmy thought his voice sounded a bit weird but then he was talking again and he sounded almost normal, maybe Jimmy just had some water in his ears. “Yeah, that does make sense.”

Now decently covered from the waist down, Jimmy turned to face him; Dean was sitting up straight now and looking in his direction attentively. “We’ll be out of your hair soon so you can have all the time you need to get around for the day,” he said as he pulled on his shirt, reluctantly doing up the buttons. He hated his uniform but Cas always insisted that they wear them when they were on cases; they were itchy and uncomfortable and no amount of reassurances from his twin about how hot he looked in it would make it pleasant to wear.

Suddenly Dean moved to stand in front of him, very close in front of him. Jimmy swore he could feel him looking at him like a tingling on his skin. 

“Your buttons are all mismatched,” Dean said as he brushed Jimmy’s hands aside and started undoing them only to rebutton them. He laughed easily. “Can’t have you looking like a slob.”

Dean went on to babble aimlessly about the military and their obsessive need for cleanliness but Jimmy stopped hearing anything after he started _unbuttoning his shirt_. There wasn’t any skin on skin contact but the implication alone was enough to give Jimmy ideas, ideas that made him so happy that he’d just jerked off in the shower because otherwise he would have more than likely made a fool of himself.

His heart pounded in his ears and it felt like he was breathing entirely too fast until Dean finally stepped back and clapped him on the shoulder. “There we go, all better.”

Jimmy was saved from croaking out a thank you by the sound of the bathroom door opening and Cas emerging. Expanding on this opportunity, he used the distraction to subtly shift away from Dean thereby allowing him to start breathing properly again. 

_It’s going to be a long case, isn’t it?_ He thought to himself tiredly as Cas started explaining his plans for the day to Dean. 

 

Four days later, Jimmy had firmly established that the universe was out to get him.

He and Cas had spent over half a week investigating the whereabouts of Charles Magnus and they were no closer to find him then they’d been back in Crowley’s office. Everyone they talked to either were too frightened to give them any actionable information or legitimately didn’t know anything. There were a few people who seemed to know about the rogue alchemist but the twins quickly realized they were just trying to impress the men from the military and actually knew nothing.

“Another stellar day,” Jimmy declared loudly as they entered the hotel room at the end of the day before collapsing on one of the small chairs at the table. He shucked his heavy blue uniform jacket and undid the top buttons on his shirt so that he wasn’t being strangled anymore, laying his head on the table with a thud. “We’re going to be stuck here forever.”

There was a shuffle of clothes as Cas sat down with much more finesse in the seat across from him though Jimmy was slightly pleased to hear a frustrated sigh from him. “While I don’t think we’ll be stuck here forever,” Cas said tiredly as he set down his case notebook with a thud before rubbing at his head, “I’m afraid to say we aren’t making anywhere close to the progress that I’d hope we would be.”

“I could help,” Dean piped up from where he laid over on the bed. Jimmy’s tired senses told him that he was currently working on some sort of doo-dad but quite frankly after a long day for being more hyper aware than usual to make sure they weren’t ambushed by an alchemical psychopath, that was all that Jimmy was able to discern. This was probably why it took his brain a minute to process what Dean had said, once he did, he scowled.

“Fuck no,” he protested, shaking his head at Dean while Cas chimed in this a hearty ‘absolutely not’. “There’s already been two more disappearances since we got here; no way are we letting you out and about to get kidnapped.”

Dean set down whatever mechanical whatsit he was working on and stood up; Jimmy didn’t need to have full control over his energy senses to see the indignation in his body language. “What, you guys just expect me to waltz around loudly asking anyone if they’d seen the highly dangerous alchemist who’s grabbing people?” he asked, voice filled with a hefty dose of annoyance as he crossed his arms. “I know how to be stealthy you know.” There was a pause and when Dean spoke next his voice was softer. “I just want to help you guys out; it really bugs me to see you come back every night tired and disappointed. Maybe another pair of eyes would help.”

Thankfully Jimmy was spared the torture of what had to be a nicely timed puppy gaze from Dean since Cas seemed unable to protest so he took up the mantle of hardass. He wasn’t about to let Dean throw himself into the middle of a dangerous case, one even more hazardous than usual. 

He would rather Dean be mad at him than risk getting him hurt.

“N--O, spells no, Dean,” Jimmy said firmly; he flinched as the anger spilled back into Dean’s posture. “Don’t bother trying to get pissy or pouty with me; it won’t work.” There was a tension in the air that Jimmy assumed meant that Dean was glaring at him. “Glaring won’t work either for obvious reasons.”

“When you asked to come with us you did agree to stay out of the field,” Cas reminded him gently, having apparently regained his ability to speak. “If you can’t handle that, maybe it might best if you go back home. We promise to come back for a visit once we wrap this case up.”

Dean responded to this with a skeptical snort. “Yeah right,” he said sullenly, uncrossing his arms. “Like I could trust you two not to go running after whatever lead the Colonel gives you as payment for this little errand the second you’re done.” A beat of silence followed by a tired sigh that had his shoulders slumping as the annoyance and anger left him. “Fine, I’ll stay here but I’m not happy about it.”

Jimmy nodded in understanding. For an active person like Dean, sitting around a hotel room for hours was most likely a real challenge but he had agreed to it. He felt a twinge of pity for him but quickly squashed it just on the off chance it tried to grow into enough sympathy to suggest Dean be allowed to help in order to make him feel useful.

“We would be surprised if you were,” Jimmy said with a small smile. He made to stand up but was stopped by the sound of metal scraping metal. Pausing, he realized the sound was coming from his prosthetic; Jimmy smiled ruefully down at his leg. “Well, this should make you happy; looks like I need a tune up.”

He didn’t need Cas to tell him later how much Dean lit up at the prospect of being helpful. Jimmy could feel it in the excited energy that came off him in waves and the way he immediately began his usual speech that scolded them for being too hard on his automail. For the rest of the evening, the argument was forgotten as the twins let Dean fuss over them the only way he could.

And if they both imagined what it would be like to come home to Dean all the time...well, that was their business.

 

It wasn’t until another four days had passed that Jimmy and Cas found their first break in the case and it could be chalked up to complete and utter dumb luck.

A full week of cohabitation with Dean had been slowly taking its toll on the twins’ mental well being, not that this hadn’t been expected. They’d known that living in extremely close quarters with the man of their dreams would be nerve-wracking to say the least but once the fact they couldn’t even take comfort in each other was added in, irritated frustration was the obvious outcome.

“Dammit, Jimmy! If you click that pen one more time, I’m going to disintegrate it!”

Jimmy, in deference to his sour mood, blatantly ignored his brother’s growled warning. He felt that he was justified; he dared anyone to be chipper after yet another day of pointless searching that had followed another night of frustratingly dirty dreams involving a person that he would never get to have and another person that he couldn’t be with at present. It was starting to make him utterly miserable. 

And judging by his twin’s behavior over the last few days, Cas was feeling the effects as well.

So far Dean had been spared the majority of their irritated tempers since, by some unspoken agreement, they each directed their frustration at the other. 

“Reading these damn case notes aren’t going to get us anywhere,” Jimmy shot back, completely ignoring the comment that even started the conversation. “Besides, it’s not like I can even look at the fucking things.”

Icy silence met this comment, the only sound in the room being Dean attempting to pretend he didn’t hear them arguing as he fiddled with another one of the parts he’d brought along in his tool kit. He seemed to realize that it was safest to keep out of it though he had stepped in a few times over the past couple of days when things got more heated than normal. As the quiet dragged on, Jimmy actually started to feel more than a little guilty; throwing his blindness out as an argument wasn’t something he did since he knew how much it hurt Cas to be reminded why Jimmy was blind in the first place.

He knew he should apologize but unfortunately his bad mood wouldn’t allow it.

“We’ve completely exhausted all of the sources Crowley gave us to look into,” Cas said, his voice strained with the attempt to speak calmly. Jimmy could tell he was trying very hard not to say anything he’d regret later. A book was shut with pointed thud. “The only way we have to find Charles Magnus is to study the reports regarding the disappearances and hope that there is a pattern besides the fact that all the victims were homeless vagrants who he believed wouldn’t be missed.”

Sitting up as restless energy ran through him, Jimmy pointed towards the wall that separated them from the city. “Or we could go out and just look for him ourselves. We aren’t going to get anywhere sitting here on our asses.”

And thus the arguing began.

“Going out half cocked will accomplish nothing but getting us into trouble.”

“We get into trouble not matter what we do; at least this way we can get it over and done with.”

“This man is highly dangerous; people are dying and we can’t risk making any mistakes.”

“Exactly, people are getting killed and we can’t waste anymore time.”

“Are you suggesting that I’m wasting time?”

“Well it’s not like we’re getting much done sitting around here.”

Suddenly Jimmy realized that he and Cas had stood and were practically nose to nose by the table. He could feel the heated air from his brother’s harsh, angry breathing washing across his skin. In an instant his frustration and irritation changed to something else.

Jimmy had a vivid fantasy of grabbing his twin by the front of his shirt and kissing him roughly, of nipping at Cas’ plush lips and pulling his hips in to grind against them….

“Maybe you two might want to take a walk,” Dean spoke up, breaking the daydream. Jimmy enlarged his range of awareness from where it had become laser focused on his brother and noticed that Dean was standing a foot away, shuffling from foot to foot nervously. “You know, to calm down a little bit.”

Still more than a bit pissed off, Jimmy opened his mouth angrily to tell Dean that _he_ didn’t need to take a walk and that maybe some _other people_ in the room could benefit from getting their head out of their ass but was cut off.

“You know, that sounds like a great idea,” Cas butted in as he grabbed Jimmy by the arm and started tugging him towards the door. “We’ll both take separate walks and maybe by the time we meet back up at the hotel, we’ll each be more reasonable.”

Dean barely had time to acknowledge this with a quiet ‘okay’ before they were out the door and hurrying down the hall. Cas continued to drag him until they managed to get down the stairs and out of the building which was when Jimmy finally managed to pull his arm free. He whirled on his brother, prodding him in the chest.

“What the fuck was that?!” Jimmy growled, anger starting to sink back into him; he pushed Cas, more lightly than he actually wanted, so that they were in the alley next to the hotel. “I’m already pissed at you and you decided that making decisions for me like I’m a child will make it better? Maybe I didn’t want to go on a damn walk, did you ever think of---mmph!”

Jimmy’s irritated tirade was muffled by Cas’ mouth suddenly latching onto his own; he reeled backward in his surprise and ended up pressed up against the brick wall of the hotel. Pure instinct had him yielding to his twin’s touch and soon they were making out frantically; without his thick uniform jacket to protect him, the rough brick bit into Jimmy’s skin through the thin material of his shirt but he couldn’t care. With every rough kiss and sharp nip, all the frustration started to drain out of him; there was no psycho to chase, no tiptoeing around Dean to prevent awkward situations, nothing mattered except Cas’ hands on him.

Cas pulled away and they stood there panting; Jimmy could feel his gaze on his skin. “There, feel better?” Cas asked breathlessly, his hands coming to rest on his waist. At Jimmy’s, rightfully, confused noise in response, his brother sighed. “It’s obvious that our lack of success paired with our not exactly ideal celibacy has you on edge so when Dean offered us a way to get out that didn’t involve us working on the case, I jumped on it.” Jimmy felt him lean in to mouth lightly at his pulse point. “I thought maybe if you had a bit of time to destress, things might go a bit smoother.”

And Jimmy suddenly felt like the world’s biggest asshole.

“I’m sorry I was being such a prick,” he said contritely, wrapping his arms around him so he could bury his face in his neck; the familiar smell of Cas’ aftershave helped soothe any other frayed nerves. “You’re right though, I am frustrated. More about the case than about the whole living arrangement we have going on. I mean how fucking hard is it to find one guy in this city?” he said into Cas’ neck, his lips brushing the smooth skin. “This isn’t even one of the bigger cities; it shouldn’t be this difficult.”

Always knowing what he needed, Cas began carding his fingers through his hair. They should probably take advantage of this rare alone time to exchange blowjobs or handjobs but that wasn’t really what Jimmy wanted or needed at the moment.

“I understand,” Cas replied quietly, his voice vibrating through his neck to tickle Jimmy’s lips. “And we will catch Magnus. It might take us longer than we’d thought but we will find him and turn him over…”

Jimmy scowled in confusion as Cas’ voice suddenly stopped and his body stiffened. “Cas? What is it?”

He could feel the pulse pressing against his lips speed up dramatically and he started to worry; Cas’ mouth went to his ear and what he whispered had Jimmy’s heart pounding and his nerves on high alert.

“I think I just saw Magnus walk by the entrance to this alley.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of smut to help with any bad feelings caused by the cliffhanger :)


	5. Magnus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who want a visual: Charles Magnus looks like the young version of Charlie the magician (who's actually a witch) from the Chris Angel is a Douche Bag episode. I was having a hard time picking a bad guy and my brain sort of stumbled on him.

If Castiel believed in fate, he would have said that this was what caused him to look left and see the distinct profile passing the mouth of the alley. There had been a whole group of people there, one of whom was a homeless woman pushing a cart, but one man had stood out.

After all, he’d had days to study Charles Magnus’ photograph; it was burned into his mind at this point.

Thankfully now that Jimmy’s mood was better, his brother didn’t even bother to argue with him and they managed to hurry out into the street not long after Magnus passed by. They strode down the sidewalk, making sure to keep back; Castiel whispered to Jimmy, helping him home in on which person they needed to follow. The fact they weren’t exactly inconspicuous in their military uniforms, or most of it in Jimmy’s case, worried him slightly but Castiel soon realized that their target only had eyes for the woman he was stalking. 

Maybe if they were lucky he didn’t even know that they were sent to look for him.

The urge to run him down like a dog and take him out was strong, he could almost feel Jimmy vibrating with restrained energy at his side, but Castiel repressed this. He knew that attacking a powerful alchemist in the middle of a crowded street was dangerous and that was before acknowledging the fact that Magnus obviously had no regard for human life.

They would have to wait until Magnus cornered his prey, something that would most definitely occur somewhere secluded, and take him out there. There would be less chance of innocent bystanders being involved which meant that he and Jimmy wouldn’t have to hold back; this was optimal since Castiel expected that they were up against a more powerful opponent than they’d dealt with in a long time.

“He just slipped down that side street,” Jimmy murmured suddenly, pointing subtly off to one side. His face was scrunched with the amount of effort he had to be using to focus on one source of energy in such a busy environment. “The woman is still in front of him but I think he’s starting to close the distance.” A pause as Jimmy tilted his head and appeared to concentrate even harder. “Yeah, I think he’s getting ready to make his move; we’ll have to get closer.”

Castiel clenched his jaw. He’d rather they stay at as great a distance as possible but there was the potential victim to consider; if they could save her, they needed to do so. “Alright, let’s start closing the gap,” he said; he patted Jimmy on the side. “Let’s split up so we aren’t as noticeable. Try and find a way to separate her from Magnus so she won’t be harmed.”

“Got it,” Jimmy said with a nod, his face grim, and he slipped effortlessly into the crowd, leaving Castiel to follow from the other side of the street. Magnus was still walking almost leisurely down the sidewalk, his head of brown hair bobbing amongst the crowd.

Magnus continued walking for another ten minutes or so and soon they were entering a row of abandoned warehouses, somewhere dark and secluded, just perfect for kidnapping some poor soul. There was a faint squeak coming from in front of him that Castiel assumed was the woman’s cart and it reassured him that she was still safe if she was still pushing her cart.

But then the squeaking stopped.

Fuck.

He crept silently towards where he thought he’d heard the sounds last, keeping low and as out of sight as possible. His heartbeat juddered in his chest at the sudden scream that echoed on the other side of the crate he was hiding behind. Castiel knew he couldn’t wait any longer when he picked up the sound of raised voices and a struggle; squaring his shoulders, he stood up and walked around the crate.

“Charles Magnus,” Castiel said, making sure to keep any and all traces of fear from his voice. Magnus was holding a knife to the woman’s neck; the look of sheer terror on her face actually helped Castiel push his own fear aside as fury towards someone who’d bastardize his natural gift in such a manner took its place. “You are under arrest; release the woman and come quietly.”

At the sound of Castiel’s voice, Magnus turned; his expression shifted from startled to mildly surprised. He kept the knife to the poor woman’s throat and looked over Castiel; he looked decidedly unimpressed. “Is this what the military has come to” he sighed and shook his head. “Sending a wet behind the ears alchemist to deal with me? I find that more than a little insulting; I warrant at least a major instead of a grunt like you.”

The insult washed off Castiel like water but he did feel a stirring of uneasiness. Considering what Magnus was up to, they’d suspected that he had a lot of power but his complete lack of concern towards a military alchemist had to mean that he had something up his sleeve.

It meant that Castiel need to watch his step.

“I repeat, you will let the woman go, now,” he said again, putting as much steel into the phrase as he could. He stepped forward; Magnus didn’t even flinch, just smiled.

He probably wouldn’t be smiling if he knew Jimmy was behind him amongst the broken down machinery. 

Castiel forced his face into a determined mask as he was forced to listen to this sad excuse for a human being continue mocking him while he endangered someone. 

“No, I don’t think I will,” Magnus replied. “I think I’m going to take her with me, and you of course. I could always use more volunteers.”

He pulled roughly on the woman’s ragged jacket, forcing her closer to him as he tried to walk away. The woman screamed and stared at Castiel with terrified eyes, crying out when Magnus pressed the knife harder against her throat in an attempt to remind her of her predicament.

When Castiel saw the thin line of blood drip down her neck as the knife nicked her; Castiel knew he had no choice but to act.

“Jimmy, now!”

Bright light flashed from behind Magnus, his look of surprise getting lost in shadow as Jimmy used his alchemy to force a wall of concrete between Magnus and his captive before the wall hid him. The woman stumbled forward almost violently but, realizing she was free, didn’t hesitate to bolt away; Castiel ignored her in favor of running forward, his hands already moving to make the freehand symbols necessary to start trapping his target.

He bolted around the wall to find Jimmy attempting to hit him with multiple blows but Magnus was quicker, putting up at solid defense via a screen of concrete. Knowing that Jimmy didn’t need to take out the wall to see, Castiel focused on distracting Magnus to give his twin time to work their time tested battle plan. 

When Castiel’s attack caught his attention, Magnus turned and smiled. “Oh, so that’s why you were so confident,” he said smugly, his hands forming a matrix that shattered Jimmy’s wall violently and sent small shards of concrete flying at Castiel’s face. “You had another little friend hiding in the shadows.”

Castiel managed to create a concrete shield in time to protect his face but grimaced as some wayward shards caught him in his non-automail leg. He didn’t bother talking to Magnus. Let the idiot talk and distract himself; it would make things easier for Jimmy.

“I suppose I feel a little better now,” Magnus continued; this time he tried to unbalance Castiel by manipulating the ground under his feet. “I’d thought all the hard work I’d done had been missed if they were only sending one snot nosed kid to catch me.” Another shift in the ground that knocked Castiel over. “Two young grunts is a little better.”

Rolling away from a large chunk of flooring that Magnus had just flung at his head, Castiel continued his part of evading and distracting while he hoped that Jimmy acted soon. Magnus was indeed a much more skilled opponent and it was actually getting more difficult to keep one step ahead.

“Snot nosed kids or not,” Castiel said from behind his latest barrier as he manipulated some rebar that had been exposed when the floor was damaged. It shot towards Magnus’ legs and clipped them but he was able to stay upright. “We’re taking you in, you might as well come quietly.”

An amused chuckle met this response and suddenly Castiel found himself exposed as rebar disintegrated his shelter, revealing Magnus’ smirking face. “Take me in?” he mocked, encasing Castiel’s feet in rubble so he couldn’t move. “You can’t even land a single hit; what, you just expected I would hear ‘military alchemist’ and just go with you?”

Magnus reached down and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him in close. “I guess I’ll just have to take you and your little friend as research subjects,” Magnus sighed, as if all this were just a small bother to him, reaching down to grab Castiel by the arm. He paused as he no doubt felt the metal of his automail. “Oh, what have we here? Automail? I suppose I can work with damaged materials.” Castiel looked at the wall, hoping that Jimmy would make his move soon, and sure enough he saw his brother’s head peek out; his muscles relaxed slightly.

And apparently that was his big mistake. 

“Though I’m starting to wonder if I killed that other one; he’s been awfully quiet. No matter, I---” And then Magnus paused, looking at him and then at the arm he held in his grip for a moment before his eyes lit up with an awful light, and Castiel felt a horrible knot in his stomach as he murmured, “Oh, that’s the game, is it?”

Castiel didn’t even have a chance to shout a warning to Jimmy before Magnus dropped him and turned towards where Jimmy was getting ready to take him out.

There was a flash of light and a shout as Jimmy went flying.

“Jimmy!” Castiel cried, pulling fruitlessly at his legs in a desperate attempt to free himself but nothing happened. He began frantically throwing rocks aside in his attempt to get out as Magnus began walking over to where Jimmy struggled to sit up.

“That was a nice game,” Magnus said casually as he walked over to Jimmy. Castiel winced at the sound of Magnus kicking at his twin’s stomach and the pained grunt only made him work faster to get free. “It probably would have worked if I hadn’t finally figured out who you two were, Crowley’s little pets.” He made a tsking noise as he kicked Jimmy again. “I’ve heard rumors about you two, a set of twin alchemists; both missing limbs but only one missing their sight.” 

Magnus knelt down and grabbed Jimmy by the collar and started hitting him, talking between blows. “Since the other one---looked at me just fine---I was right in guessing---that you are the blind one---,” he said, every blow hitting like a hammer as he laughed darkly. “Little hard to get around---once I disrupted the energy ions in the air---isn’t it?”

His hands were bleeding and torn but Castiel pressed on, so close to freeing himself. His heart pounded and blood roared in his ears so that it was actually almost hard to hear what Magnus was saying but what he could hear sent icy fear through him. 

Jimmy couldn’t see.

Jimmy needed him. 

“Now that I know who I’m dealing with,” Magnus said, shaking his hand to rid it of the sting caused by beating Jimmy, “I really shouldn’t use you as test subjects; it would be entirely too easy for you two to disrupt my work. It looks like I’ll just have to make sure that Crowley’s dogs get put down…” Magnus reached out to grab a broken piece of rebar.

A burst of rage helped Castiel shift the rest of the rubble and had him barrelling over to where Magnus knelt over his brother, jagged metal poised to stab him. He yelled incoherently through the red haze in his mind as he completely forgot about alchemy and tackled Magnus to the ground; the rebar clattering on the concrete.

He managed to get a multitude of hits in before Magnus knocked him off with a savage blow to the side of his head. They both rose to their feet. Magnus, smug bastard he was, opened his mouth to say something but unfortunately for him, Castiel remembered that he was indeed a powerful alchemist and began using that to his advantage.

His hands were a blur as he carved symbols in the air that had debri flying at Magnus from as many angles as he could muster. Every time Magnus managed to stand up, Castiel buffeted him with another series of blows, causing sprays of blood to rain down on the concrete floor. Normally Castiel didn’t like to injure to injure their targets but he couldn’t stop himself.

All he could see was Jimmy laying on the ground, beaten and broken; completely blinded and helpless as this human scum attempted to kill him while he’d been trapped and useless under a small mountain of rock.

Every hit he gave to Magnus gave him such a glorious feeling of satisfaction that he couldn’t help but chase the feeling even when the man was finally on the ground, unable to stand again; still Castiel continued his assault.

He probably would have killed him if it weren’t for the sudden realization that someone was saying his name.

“CASTIEL!”

He froze, his hand about to form a matrix that would have pummelled Magnus with a chunk of concrete, as he finally heard Jimmy’s shouts. Blinking he looked down and saw with no small amount of horror that Magnus’ face was a mess of blood. 

At first Castiel’s heart and stomach lurched horribly as he feared that he had killed him but then he saw that the man was still breathing but only seemed capable of twitching feebly. A hand grabbed his shoulder hesitantly and, in his shock and confusion, he whirled around, prepared to deal with whoever was there only to find Jimmy.

“Cas, calm down,” Jimmy said, his voice hoarse; he must have been trying to get Castiel’s attention for quite some time. Jimmy was looking at the ground searchingly. “Is he still alive? I can’t see a fucking thing right now.”

“Yes---yes, he’s still breathing,” Castiel replied dazedly, reaching up to grip the hand on his shoulder. The feel of warm under his palm made him so relieved his legs almost gave out.

Yes, Magnus was still alive but most importantly, Jimmy was too.

Jimmy let out a huge breath. “Thank fuck,” he said, shoulders slumping at the reassurance. His hand slid up to cup Castiel’s cheek. “I’d thought that maybe you’d killed him and I’d have to hide a body--” Castiel cut him off by bringing him for a crushing hug; Jimmy flailed as the sudden movement surprised him but relaxed into it after a second, patting Castiel’s back soothingly. “It’s alright, Cas; I’m fine, just a little roughed up but then, how’s that any different than normal?”

Castiel could tell he was trying to play off his injuries but he refused to accept the comfort. He focused on the solid warmth of Jimmy’s body under his hands. Glancing up, the sight of his twin’s bruised and bloody face made him want to be sick. Castiel took the blame for any injury done to Jimmy on their cases anyway but this was the first time that anyone had been able to take advantage of his twin’s lack of sight. Jimmy always tried to laugh off his concern but deep down Castiel knew his brother knew the truth.

All of this was Castiel’s fault.

 

_Six Years Ago_

“That’s everything,” Castiel said as he placed the last of the ingredients in the oversized tub.

Jimmy placed his armful in and stepped back, eyeing the matrix Castiel had drawn meticulously from his notes. “Are you positive you have it right?” he asked, sounding worried as he gazed down at the complicated symbols and patterns. “Maybe we should double check again?”

Castiel huffed an annoyed breath. “I looked over it a million times, Jimmy. Everything is perfect; I wouldn’t leave anything to chance, not for this.”

This was their mother they were talking about after all.

Anna Novak had been laid to rest one month ago but it seemed like longer than that and not at the same time; every once and awhile Castiel could swear he felt like time was flowing on without him but other times it felt like everything had ground to a halt. He’d been tempted to ask Jimmy if he felt the same but his twin looked so upset at the mere mention of their mother that he didn’t have the heart to ask. 

It was extremely unnerving how quiet grief had made Jimmy and the itching feeling of wrong that had been coating Castiel’s skin ever since that awful day they’d come home from school to find their mother collapsed on the kitchen pushed him to find a way to fix it. For the first few days he attempted to soothe Jimmy with hugs, food, and whispered reminders that everything would be alright but none of this seemed to work so he racked his brain one night for hours while the soft sound of his twin’s crying ripped at him.

In the end, the solution was so simple he actually laughed aloud at his own stupidity in the darkened kitchen.

After that Castiel threw himself into research on bio-alchemy, being careful on how he did so to avoid detection by the government since he knew very well that what he was attempting was highly illegal, not to mention dangerous. There were a few nights when he sat at his desk, book after book on past attempts at human resurrection laid open in their bloody, disastrous glory, that he allowed fear to slip in and beg him not to do this but in the end, the thought of making his twin smile and seeing his mother again pushed him onwards. 

He didn’t tell Jimmy what he was up to until he had all the logistics worked out on the plan. Jimmy had taken some time to come around but, after Castiel showed him how foolproof his formulas and matrix were, he was joining in eagerly on the research. 

Hiding their endeavours from Dean proved to be the most difficult part of their scheme. 

Knowing that Dean, out of a misguided sense of protecting them, would more than likely tell their newly appointed guardian Bobby about their plan so they could be stopped, the twins decided it was best to distance themselves just until they completed the resurrection. This was easy enough at base since they were able to use the blanket excuse of grieving to cover the fact that they wished to live at their own home instead of with Dean and Bobby and why they went home from school immediately instead of visiting. 

It had taken a surprisingly short amount of time to put all the appropriate materials together and the necessary secrecy was starting to get to both of them but all of that was in the past now.

Tonight was the night.

Castiel pulled Jimmy back so they were standing at the edge of the matrix, the tub containing all the material elements for a human woman in the center. For a moment, neither of them breathed; they were about to do something incredibly illegal and dangerous but all Castiel could think about was the way his mother liked to hum to herself as she cooked.

He wanted to hear it again.

“Ready?” He turned towards Jimmy, holding out his right hand. They were both going to have to channel energy into the matrix and physical contact would give the best result.

Jimmy swallowed hard and looked at the proffered hand for a second before his face hardened with determination; he grasped Castiel’s right with his left and nodded. “I’m ready.”

They both knelt down and pressed their hands to the chalky outlines of the resurrection matrix. Bright white light lit up the markings, illuminating the twins’ excited faces. Energy hummed powerfully through the air and the ground.

The light turned sickly red. Castiel looked over to see Jimmy’s excitement washing away into fear. Something was wrong. He tried to break the energy connection between them and the matrix but found that his hands were held in place. He could only look at his brother’s terrified face as the red light began to pulse.

Then the pain started.

Then Jimmy screamed and his body burned.

Then darkness took over.

The next time Castiel opened his eyes, it was to see the bloody stumps of his leg and arm and his brother screaming about the dark while his head thrashing wildly side to side as he tried to find the source of the pain in his nonexistent forearm and leg.

Later of course they would discover that Jimmy’s sight had been sacrificed. The guilt over this fact being something that would plague Castiel from that moment on but in a strange way, he realized his twin’s blindness at that moment was almost a mercy.

Blindness meant that Jimmy wouldn’t have to live with the sight of the nightmarish jumble of misshapen, bloody limbs and organs that they had created.

The only kindness afforded to Castiel was that there was no trace of red in the hair on the creature’s malformed skull. At least Castiel’s stupidity had caused their mother to suffer a second time.

No, the price of Castiel’s arrogance was robbing his twin of his sight and limbs.

 

From that day on, Castiel not only made it his mission to find a way to restore themselves but to keep Jimmy from harm.

Looking at his twin’s face now, Castiel knew that he was doing a pretty shit job of it.

“Listen, I know you’re probably having one of your freakouts,” Jimmy said as gently as possible as he rubbed his back. “But right now we need to get this psycho locked down, alright?”

Squaring his shoulders, Castiel stepped back even though his body begged him not too; it needed more time to accept the fact that Jimmy was alive but he knew Jimmy was right. He needed to focus on the mission. 

He turned to face the broken heap that was Charles Magnus and cringed at the visual evidence of his uncontrolled rage. Jimmy had been right to think that Castiel had accidentally killed him.

“Charles Magnus, by the authority afforded to me by the Angestrian military, you are under arrest for the practice of illegal bio-alchemy and the creation of Philosopher Stones,” Castiel said, reaching into the pockets of his uniform to grab the heavy, rune encrusted handcuffs. He grasped Magnus’ limp hands and locked the cuffs tightly around his wrists. “You will be taken to Eastern Command to face a criminal court and to reciev---”

A loud crash cut off the rest of Castiel’s recitation.

“Cas! Look out!”

Castiel, hands still busy with Magnus’ cuffs, barely heard Jimmy’s bellow of warning before a ominous buzzing approached him. Only pure instinct had his metal arm up fast enough to deflect the dagger that had been about to imbed itself in his side.

“Jimmy, get down,” Castiel ordered, turning to face this new opponent. He turned, eyes scanning the area, to see two figures standing at the edge of the shadows. “Show yourself. You are interfering with a military arrest---”

“Oh, a _military arrest_ ,” an amused voice cooed as two women clad in black strode out of the shadows. They were both short with long dark hair; the one of the left, the one who held a wicked looking dagger, smiled at the other. “Do you hear that, Dagon? We’re interfering with a military arrest.”

The one called Dagon rolled her eyes and crossed her arms; neither of the women seemed intimidated by Castiel’s display. “Sounds serious,” she replied blandly. She nodded towards Magnus and smiled. “Don’t worry, little boys; we’ll be out of your hair just as soon as we collect our bloody pulp of friend there.” She raised an eyebrow at Castiel, chuckling darkly. “Have to say, kid; that’s some impressive work. You ever need a job, I might know a few people that could use someone who can inflict that kind of damage.”

An unamused snort sounded behind him and Castiel’s stomach dropped as Jimmy laughed insolently. “We’ll keep that in mind, lady but I don’t think you’ll be taking ol’ Charles here; he’s got a date with the government.”

Castiel felt his brother approach, his steps unsteady now that his ability to sense energy was impeded. He reached out a hand to stop Jimmy but as he did he noticed the two women share very unsettling grins. Before he could even process the thought that he and Jimmy needed to put up some sort of defense immediately, Castiel watched in disbelief as the women vanished.

Only to reappear a foot in front of them.

Castiel’s vision wobbled between whiting and blacking out as heavy blows, too heavy for women their size he would realize later, hit him from all angles. He tried to raise his arms to protect his head but his opponent was too fast. Through the massive ringing in his ears, he could hear Jimmy’s pained shouts and curses.

Any attempts he made to stave off the attack were blocked. Just as Castiel thought that he couldn’t take another hit without passing out, everything stopped. Unable to support his weight, his legs gave out and he toppled to the floor; another thud followed as Jimmy fell into a heap next to him.

“There, now stay down like good boys,” Dagon said, or at least he thought it was Dagon, Castiel’s vision wasn’t quite reliable at the moment. That was obvious by the red glow he swore was emanating from both women’s eyes. They turned to leave. “Grab that worthless meat sack, Meg.” 

Castiel tried to raise his head, tried to see where these women were taking Magnus, tried to see how extensive Jimmy’s injuries were but despite his efforts to cling desperately to consciousness, everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit nervous about this chapter, this is the most action heavy chapter I've ever written and I'm pretty sure it's my first ever fight scene so I'd love to hear your opinions. :)
> 
> Okay, I also have a question for you all (those of you who are following my other work in progress, down time, already knew this was coming)
> 
> My inability to keep anything short has decided to rear its ugly head again which means that the chapters I am currently working on, are getting longer and longer. This is unfortunate since it means I'm going to more than likely catch up to my pre-written chapters. Would you guys prefer that I keep posting as normal until we run out of chapters or would you like to switch to bi-weekly updates to help stretch out what I have written? Either way I think I'm going to run out of prepared material but I want to leave it up to you as to how we divvy out the remaining chapters.
> 
> Let me know what you think :D


	6. Late Night Train Talk

Dean stared at the door to the hotel room, his unease growing with every passing second.

The twins had been gone for way too long.

When Dean had suggested they go for a walk, he’d thought that they would be gone maybe twenty minutes tops but it had been almost two hours since Cas and Jimmy had left and they hadn’t come back yet. He toyed aimlessly with his tools and fiddled with the prototype prosthetic hand he’d managed to cobble together during his time in the hotel room, pointedly ignoring the clock. 

It was killing him to sit in this stupid room but a nagging voice in his head reminded him of the promise he made to convince the twins to bring him along. At first it hadn’t been hard to ignore the itching desire to grab his jacket and head out to look for Cas and Jimmy, they were probably just having a shouting match somewhere, but now that the sun had gone down, worry was making the urge impossible to not think about.

A thousand horrible scenarios played themselves out in front of Dean’s eyes, most of them ending with Cas and Jimmy being horribly injured and dying, as the sun sank lower and lower outside the hotel window. Each one was more horrifying than the last until finally, Dean couldn’t resist the door’s siren song any longer.

Rules and promises be damned, he was going out to find them.

With a determined set to his jaw, Dean threw on his jacket and left the hotel room. It wasn’t until he reached the lobby and stepped outside that he realized he didn’t have any clue on how to find the twins. He stood in front of the hotel, agonizing over which way to start searching; eventually he decided to just pick a direction. If he didn’t find any sign of them after a while, Dean would just switch directions and go the other way.

Lady Luck seemed to be smiling down on him that night since, about twenty minutes after he’d started walking in his chosen direction, Dean overheard a street vendor loudly complaining about the state of the city. Normally this rant about ‘street hoodlums’ brawling wouldn’t have even been a blip on his radar but then the man had mentioned with a small amount of satisfaction that he ‘was glad to see the military finally getting their hands dirty’. This last bit was what had Dean rushing over to ask the man about what he’d meant.

Ten minutes later, he was sprinting down the street towards the street the man had told him about.

His heart pounded as he approached the row of abandoned warehouses, partly because of his mad dash to the place the street vendor had claimed to see two men in military uniforms brawling with some man but mostly because of the comment that had been made about said military men getting the shit kicked out of them. Dean darted from warehouse to warehouse, searching each one for a sign of Cas and Jimmy but each one was empty except for a few homeless people and he quickly began to grow discouraged.

But then he saw the blood and his heart stopped.

There was a faint trail of blood on the pavement outside the next warehouse in the row. Bile tried to force its way up his throat as images of Cas and Jimmy, sprawled lifelessly on dirty concrete, flashed through his head. He felt he had a right to worry despite the stupid voice in his head saying that the twins were fine.

It turned out to be a lot of blood.

Throwing caution to the wind despite the panicked part of his mind begging him to be careful, Dean tried to open the door; he had to find them, needed to know they were okay Finding it locked, he kicked the decaying wood in with a sharp hit from his boot. A shaft of light shot into the warehouse, lighting his way. He hurried into the room, his eyes fixed on the horrible smear of red on the floor that led over to---

“Cas! Jimmy!”

Dean bolted over to the horrifyingly familiar figures lying in heaps on the floor. He skidded to the floor so he was on his knees next to them, his heart stopping again as he saw the twins’ injuries. 

It looked like someone had beaten them to death with a hammer.

Both Cas and Jimmy had huge purpling bruises as well as sluggishly bleeding cuts on every bit of exposed skin. Fearing they might actually be dead, Dean shoved his hands under their noses and nearly collapsed in relief when he felt air tickle his skin. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he teared up a bit at this confirmation that they were breathing.

They were alive. Someone had obviously beaten them within an inch of their lives but they were still alive.

Sitting back since his shaking legs refused to support him, Dean ran a hand through his hair. What was he supposed to do now?

He looked around the warehouse. His mind whirling through plan after plan but so far none was good enough to be deemed worthy; his hands drifted down to rest so that one was on each of the twins’ chests, feeling the reassuring thud of their heartbeats under his palm as well as the soothing sensation of their chests rising and falling. 

That feeling was the only thing keeping him grounded at the moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the cart and an idea started to form.

Yeah, that would work.

 

Jimmy stiffened as the train car jolted, jarring his already sore head and other extremities.

He started when a pillow was thrust unceremoniously in his lap, followed by a blanket and a gruff order from Dean to use them to get some sleep before Jimmy observed him skulking off to do the same to Cas in the next bench down. Normally Jimmy would have argued that he wasn’t tired and balked at the idea of being treated like a child but to be honest, he _was_ tired.

Not to mention he and Cas were still grovelling.

Dean, having forced Cas to take the second set of the two pillows and blankets that he’d bought in Minneanna before boarding the train (which Cas accepted meekly), took a bench on the opposite aisle and sat down; his body was stiff with undisguised watchfulness. Sighing, Jimmy did as he had been told and laid down on the bench. The aching muscles in his back thanked him profusely but he mainly did it in a frail attempt to assuage Dean’s ire.

The last day had been extremely uncomfortable.

When Jimmy had rejoined the land of the living after the fight in the warehouse, his head and body feeling like he’d had a train run over them, it had been to the sound of Dean and Cas arguing.

_“Dammit, Cas! I know I broke your stupid ass rule but I found you bleeding to death in a warehouse. I will not apologize for leaving to find you.”_

_“We would have been fine. None of our injuries were life threatening, this isn’t the first time we’ve been injured on a case.”_

_“Bleeding and unconscious in a warehouse. I’m just fucking glad I found you before your psycho did. You and Jimmy might be dead now if it wasn’t for me---”_

Through the ringing haze and the continued argument, he’d been able to piece together that Cas was angry that Dean had broken the protocol they’d agreed on before leaving home but what surprised Jimmy the most was how furious Dean was at both of them.

_“You always act like you know best, like being a military alchemist makes you invincible but news flash Cas, it doesn’t. This right here just goes to show how fucking dangerous it is to be involved in their shit. You almost fucking died while I was stuck here in this godforsaken room.”_

At first Jimmy hadn’t been able to understand why Dean was so angry. He knew that Dean didn’t like the fact they worked for the military and considering Dean’s past experiences with anything related to them, Jimmy couldn’t blame him. The outright rage was new though; usually just settled for a grouchy commentary on anything the military did and he’d never been so baldly angry with them for being apart of it. 

But then, by some miracle considering the ringing in his ears, the pieces fell into place and he’d understood.

Dean had almost been forced to relive the death of his family.

He would have been off safe somewhere else while Jimmy and Cas had died only to find out later what had happened. True he and Cas dying didn’t have quite as much weight as Dean losing his mother, father, and brother in one night, Jimmy would never be so conceited to think that, but it was a bit too close to home in any case. Cas, too busy being angry that Dean had broken their rule, wasn’t picking up on that otherwise he wouldn’t be such a dick about the rules.

A mixture of anger at how thoroughly they had failed, his usual vexation that followed Jimmy being hurt and the thought of what could have happened to Dean had Cas on edge enough that his normally perceptive brother was being incredibly dumb. So much so that Jimmy had had to be the one to step in and stop the argument before either of them had had a chance to say something they’d regret.

_“Cas, enough,”Jimmy had said, voice scratchy and hoarse. The two of them had whipped around to stare at him and he could practically feel their desire to rush over and start mother-henning him but he stopped them with a raised hand, knowing that the situation need to be handled. “Dean, we’re sorry we worried you. You’re right to be angry.”_

_Dean, his body relaxing slightly, had sat down on the edge of his bed and sighed. “I’m not_ mad _at you guys, Jimmy. I’m mad at---I just can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt.” He’d looked up at the ceiling and Jimmy had noticed the fight seemed to have left him as he’d rubbed his face roughly. “You two and Bobby are all I have left now.”_

And thus began the guilt trip home.

Cas had been the more penitent of the two of them once Jimmy had enlightened him as to why he suspected Dean was so upset; probably to make up for the shouting match he and Dean had had in the hotel room. Since then they had been doing whatever they could to make Dean feel better which meant dealing with his slightly overbearing coddling but the slight crossness seemed to linger. 

The train jolted again and Jimmy sat up with a grumble. “Fucking trains,” he mumbled. He was just about to try laying down again when he noticed Dean was sitting on his bench, head positioned that he had to be staring into space since there was no way he’d fallen asleep like that.

Taking a deep breath and knowing that he was risking the newfound peace, he got up and walked over gingerly to sit on the bench in front of Dean. He sat there for a second, observing the slight nuances of Dean’s posture and he immediately knew what was going on. He couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to figure it out; Jimmy may be blind but one of the perks of only being able to “see” motion and posture was that people forgot how revealing body language could be.

And he’d seen these particular signs before.

“You feel guilty about something,” he said, not a question but a statement. When Dean didn’t respond, Jimmy suspected he was glaring at him (like that would do anything), he continued as he tested his new found theory. “You said you weren’t mad at us but the way you’ve been acting tells me you’re pissed at something.”

Dean snorted and crossed his arms. “Yeah, I’m pissed at the asshats that put you guys through the wringer.”

Jimmy shook his head. “Nope, that’s not it. I’ve known you for a long time, Dean,” he said, keeping his tone as light as possible. Neither of them was very good at these, emotion things. “I can tell when you’re mad at yourself about something. Care to share with the class?” A sullen silence met his question. “I’m just going to keep bugging you; don’t make me get Cas cause you know he’ll get it out of you.”

“Him and that goddamned puppy face,” Dean grumbled before he sighed roughly. They chuckled light for a second before he turned away as if he were avoiding Jimmy’s gaze, probably forgetting that wasn’t exactly an issue. “You guys wouldn’t have ended up at that warehouse if I hadn’t, you know, told you to go take a walk, okay? That’s what’s been bothering me so can we move on now?”

To both of their surprise, Jimmy broke out into a laugh.

“Seriously, you’re blaming yourself for that?” Jimmy blurted out, knowing that he was probably going to get his head bitten off but not caring since the fact that Dean blamed _himself_ for Cas and Jimmy getting their asses handed to them was ridiculous. “I’m the asshole who was picking a fight with Cas in the hotel room; if anyone is to blame, it’s me.”

Dean looked back at him, his head moving sharply. “Jim--”

Jimmy shook his head. “If the next words out of your mouth are going to be something about me not blaming myself, so help me I will smack you across the face.” He paused and smiled. “With my left hand.”

Shifting in his seat, Dean crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance. “You’re such a hypocritical asshole,” he grumbled. “You sit there and tell me that I can’t blame myself but you’re allowed to blame yourself? What makes you so special?”

“The fact that I feel bad about it but I know deep down that me and Cas were just dealt a really shitty hand,” Jimmy replied, slouching down in his seat. He gestured at Dean. “You on the other hand truly believe that you suggesting we take a walk of all things led to us getting our asses kicked.”

“But I--”

Cutting him off, Jimmy rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t your fault, Dean. All this,” he paused and gestured at the dark bruises and cuts that had to be littering his face, “is courtesy of the two suspiciously knowledgeable and freakishly strong women who stole me and Cas’ psycho right out from under us so unless you’re telling me that you’re either Charles Magnus in disguise or actually two crazy women in a Dean costume, this isn’t down to you.”

Jimmy could have cried tears of joy when Dean laughed, a real laugh this time. His chest felt a million times lighter at hearing the sound. When Dean didn’t say anything else, Jimmy took another risk and reached out to pat Dean on the knee; making sure to make it explicitly platonic. 

“So, are we good now?” He asked, his tone a bit softer than he wanted but hopefully Dean wouldn’t notice. In an attempt to cover just in case, he grinned and nodded towards the bench where Cas was snoring softly. “Because if we are, could you please do something to let Cas know that? He’s been moping around like a kicked puppy all day and it’s pretty damn pathetic and I can’t even see the worst of it.”

Dean sighed and slumped in his seat, his hands fumbling restlessly in his lap. “Yeah, I have been kinda taking my shit out on you two haven’t I?”

Shrugging, Jimmy stretched to get a kink out of his back. “I guess so but honestly, I think it’s safe to say we’re all okay. I know I can get over it and I’m positive Cas will be over the moon that you aren’t mad.”

“Yeah, I’ll apologize first thing in the morning,” Dean said quietly as he turned his head in the direction of Cas’ sleeping form. Jimmy wasn’t sure if it was just the lack of restful sleep or the beating his head had taken in the warehouse but he felt as if the air got heavy with an unidentified emotion. Well, he could identify it but it didn’t make any sense. Chalking it up to wishful thinking, Jimmy stood up.

“Well, now that we’ve had our little talk, I’m going to go and attempt to sleep on this godforsaken train,” he said as he wandered back over to his bench, throwing over his shoulder, “I suggest you do too. It’s going to be a long trip back to Eastern Command and then we have to go see the Colonel.”

Settling down to sleep, Jimmy smiled as he heard Dean grumble about ‘pain in the ass commanding officers’ as he too shuffled around on his bench. He found it much easier to get comfortable now that he knew that everything was okay with Dean and that he felt a small smidgen of pride at being the one to help fix it this time. It almost made up for the hell that had been the last day or so, for the fact they still had to go and report to Crowley that they’d failed spectacularly and how the twins’ time sharing a bed with Dean had been brought to such an abrupt end. 

Curling up as best he could, Jimmy started to drift off; dreaming pleasant dreams of the short time he, Cas and Dean had shared a bed. In fact, his dreams were so vivid, he swore he felt a pair of lips brushing the top of his head in a kiss at one point.

 

Charles Magnus was in pain.

He was in a dark, cold place.

He was fairly certain he was going to die.

It wasn’t the first time today that he’d had that revelation. The first time he’d been forced to face his possible demise was in that warehouse in Minneanna as one of Colonel Crowley’s favorite pets had been obviously hell bent on caving his face in. Probably would have managed it if the other one hadn’t stepped in. He supposed he should be grateful but considering what he was starting to expect was waiting for him in the near future was more than likely much worse than being beaten to death by a punk military alchemist. At least that would have been quick.

He doubted this next attempt, while it would be undoubtedly successful, would be so merciful.

After the warehouse, the women had taken him to an alley before tossing him down a set of stairs. He’d thought that was going to be the end there; that they were just going to get it over with and dump his body to be found with the other vagrant trash that littered the city like flies. At the time his trauma addled brain had thought it would be an almost poetic death, to end his existence in semi-mirror to the pathetic souls he’d lured off the streets and into his laboratory. Well at first he’d lured them, after the rumor of his activities spread, it was more like he hunted them; luckily for him, the homeless garbage of this city had nowhere to hide from him. His job had been easy.

Until those little military shits had started poking their noses in his business.

He’d known from the beginning they’d been in the city, a mutual acquaintance had given him a nudge to let him know that the military had taken interest in him. It wasn’t as if he were really bothered by it, he had some major influence in his back pocket so why would he be worried about two upstart alchemists? What was troubling was that they _had_ found him despite his employer’s power.. 

A loud metallic screech sounded as a shaft of bright light blinded his sensitive eyes.

Well, maybe there were other things that were more troubling at the moment.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk; what are we going to do with you, Charles?” a husky female voice said as two sets of footsteps approached him. He couldn’t quite make out their features with his eyes swollen but he could hear the crisp clip of their heeled boots on the floor. “You had one job, just one, and you couldn’t even handle it. Your client is extremely displeased.”

The second pair of boots walked slowly around him so that one was on either side of him. “Yes he was expecting much better numbers from your little operation and here we stand with less than he bargained for and two brats who may or may not suspect something,” the second voice, sounding almost bored, said. A hand reached and clutched at his shoulder, squeezing the out of socket joint until Magnus couldn’t help but grunt in pain. “We noticed those little boys made quite the mess of your face, you didn’t happen to let anything slip did you?”

There was a rustle of clothes and the crackle of stray gravel underfoot and then the first woman was whispering in his ear. “Because your client would be extremely put out if you endangered his interests with your incompetency.” 

Magnus chuckled. “I’m sure that this would normally have me shaking in my shoes, ladies,” he said, coughing as he accidentally jarred one of his injured ribs, “But I know that my time is very limited. I’m honestly surprised you waited this long to get rid of me.”

Another coughing fit hit him and he was surprised that the women waited until for him to continue. “You can tell your master that the little shit from Eastern Command didn’t mention anything about blood alchemy; I was to be brought in under charges of illegal bio-alchemy,” he paused and smiled; it had to look horrible. “His secret is safe but I would advise that he take action. Wouldn’t want his little venture to be discovered.”

There were more shifting noises as the woman who was crouching stood up. Her tone was almost pleasant when she spoke again, not that Magnus really cared; his chest felt like it was fire. “We’ll take your words into advisement,” she said as if she were a secretary telling him his appointment needed to be rescheduled. “Our master deeply appreciates your service and your sacrifice.”

_“I was wrong,_ this _is actually a poetic death_ ,” Magnus’ thought with mild amusement right before something powerful struck him in the side of the head and then he was gone.

 

Dagon wiped at her pant leg, her lip curled in disgust. 

“Did you really have to kick him like that?” she drawled, annoyed that her clothes had human brain on them. “You could have just cracked his neck, it’s not like he was in any shape to resist.” The unpleasant pulp remained despite her efforts. “Dammit, Meg! This is going to stain.”

Rolling her eyes, Meg crouched down and started digging through Magnus’ pockets, grabbing his wallet and ID; the longer it took the authorities to find the body, the better for them. She debated torching the remains but figured that there wasn’t time. 

“Quit your bitching, you can clean up when we get back,” she said as she stood and pocketed the items. “Master is going to want a report.”

She turned and started walking out of the dank basement, Dagon falling into step beside her as they left the mangled corpse that had been Charles Magnus behind. Maybe if they were lucky the vermin would deal with him. 

“He’ll want to know there might be a potential problem with the Novaks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another dramatic chapter ending...dun dun dun!!!
> 
> After tallying the votes, it looks like this story is going to stay on regular updates until I get caught up to my pre-written chapters. The updates will obviously take longer at that point but the upside is that most of the chapters are going to be super long (chapter 9 is already 14 pages and I'm not even done yet) so I hope that will make up for the wait.


	7. Eastern Command

The journey back to the eastern province took much longer than usual.

This was probably due to the fact that spending hours at a time on a train being jostled around was bad at the best of times but travelling on a train while riddled with fresh injuries was infinitely worse. Every time the train car jumped, Castiel’s head throbbed along with his joints and his ribs but he wasn’t quite as miserable as he had been now that he knew Dean wasn’t angry with him.

Dean had cornered him when they swapped trains at the station in the capital while in the central province for the last leg of their journey home. He’d been shuffling his feet and couldn’t quite meet Castiel’s eyes as he fumbled through explaining that he was sorry for acting ‘like an ass’ because of his own issues; there hadn’t been much more explanation than that but Castiel was too busy being so relieved that Dean hadn’t actually been angry with him for getting into that stupid argument over the rules they’d established. Part of him suspected that Jimmy might have talked to Dean but when he asked his twin about it, he denied doing any such thing.

After Dean’s apology, the air surrounding the trip lightened immensely which meant the only discomfort on their trip home was of the physical variety and that was perfectly fine with Castiel; especially since Dean had apparently made it his duty to repent for his behavior by making sure the twins were as comfortable as humanly possible. Externally Castiel protested this special treatment but internally he loved having Dean dote on them. It meant getting a multitude of little touches all day and that was something that he, and Jimmy most likely, definitely didn’t want to end. 

But unfortunately the trip had to end eventually.

The train had pulled into the station ten minutes ago and the three of them gathered their bags and shuffled their way off the train. They slowly weaved through the crowded train station, dodging groups of uniformed soldiers and luggage racks until they finally reached the steps leading out into the city.

“You should head home, Dean,” Castiel offered as they trudged down the steps. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Jimmy and I will go to Eastern Command and speak with Crowley, we might be a while.”

Dean rolled his eyes incredulously. “Yeah, ‘cause I’m just going to leave you two walking disasters wandering around by yourselves,” he drawled as he brushed by them and started walking towards the command building. He shot them a small smile over his shoulder. “Well, come on, let’s get this over with so we can go home.”

“Mmm...was it the sweet small smile or the dorky grin, Cas?” Jimmy asked wistfully as they followed after Dean, their duffles thrown over their shoulders. 

Castiel smiled to himself. “The small sweet one,” he replied, as his chest lightened. It was amazing how such a tiny gesture made him feel like he could handle anything as long as Dean was there to give him a grin or a friendly touch. 

Maybe the meeting with Crowley wouldn’t be so bad.

 

The meeting was going horribly.

Castiel only had himself to blame really. He’d floated into the Colonel’s office on the high of things finally being okay with Dean again which had him under the absolutely foolish impression that Crowley wouldn’t be livid that they had lost Charles Magnus to two women of unknown allegiances.

“I would think that after all these years, you two dunderheads would be able to handle a simple search and cuff mission,” Crowley growled as he slumped in his chair. His expression was dark and he was glaring at Castiel over his steepled hands. “I can’t believe it took you that fucking long to find the bastard only to lose him to a pair of civilians.”

Jimmy snorted and crossed his arms. “If those two women were civilians then civilians are way more superhuman than I remember,” he said insolently. Castiel could tell the Colonel’s dismissive and superior attitude was getting on Jimmy’s already frazzled nerves. “I mean, I know it’s been awhile since I’ve, you know, seen things but last time I had vision, women didn’t have red flashing eyes like Cas saw on those particular ladies.”

Sitting up straighter and meeting Crowley’s alarmingly unimpressed gaze, Castiel nodded. “I agree, those were not ordinary women, Colonel,” he said, his voice filled with determination. This was something that he needed to get the Colonel to understand. Castiel was positive that there was more to the women who had taken Magnus than they knew and he suspected that the matter was one they should be investigating, immediately. “They were extremely skilled and very strong, almost to the point of alchemical enhancement which you know is a very tricky and dangerous---”

“I highly doubt there was anything special about those women,” the Colonel drawled, obviously bored and annoyed with their conversation. He leaned forward, leaning his elbows on the desk. “What we should be focusing on is the fact that Charles Magnus is still at large, possibly with accomplices.”

“Sir, Magnus is indeed a threat but I really do believe---” Castiel began only to be cut off again. He could see a wave of anger wash over Jimmy though whether it directed towards Crowley for ignoring him or Castiel for allowing it to happen considering how many conversations they’d had on the train about how important it was to look into the strange women, he wasn’t sure. 

Crowley shook his head. “Since you two obviously had one too many hits to the head during your little adventure and have apparently have forgotten which of us is the commanding officer, I’ll repeat this for you,” he said patronizingly. “You will continue to focus on the Magnus case and _only_ the Magnus case.” The Colonel waved a hand vague in the air. “These women aren’t the objective so you will not waste any time and resources on them. Do I make myself clear?”

Only an iron will to look like a professional stopped Castiel from gaping at his C.O. How could he not realize that this was an important matter that needed looked into? They had completely decimated him and Jimmy, no small feat in any case, and Crowley was acting as if they hadn’t been beaten into submission by two mysterious women. True, the Colonel could be right in that the women are Magnus’ accomplices, or maybe even apprentices, but that seemed like all the more reason to look into them. 

Castiel looked over to see that Jimmy’s brow was furrowed slightly, at least his brother shared his suspicions that something wasn’t quite right. The question was what was actually going on? Why was their commanding officer blatantly ignoring such an important development in the case? Crowley was never negligent in his duties but not looking to two powerful new alchemists was a recipe for disaster---

A light thud brought Castiel out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a file folder sitting on Crowley’s desk in front of him.

“What’s that,” Jimmy asked, as he slouched in his chair. His voice was annoyed and Castiel knew from experience he only had so much time to get his brother out of Crowley’s office to avoid an argument. “Share with the less visually inclined in the class, Colonel.”

“That,” Crowley said, tapping at the folder after rolling his eyes at Jimmy’s response, “is what you went to Minneanna for, this will take you to a book that holds the location of Metatron’s tablet.”

If there was one thing in this world that could cause Castiel’s mind to switch gears away from the suspicious origins and motives of Magnus and his supposed accomplices, it was the tablet. He slid forward in his chair to grab the folder, flipping it open to read it.

Looking up, he nodded down at the folder. “How reliable is this source?” he asked, suddenly on alert as he saw the location written down on a piece of paper.

The Colonel leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers over his stomach, he looked a dog who’d gotten a bone. “Extremely reliable,” he answered. He pointed at the folder in Castiel’s hands. “I would trust that source with my life.”

This reassurance had a shiver of anticipation rolling down Castiel’s side as he stared at the address; no other source had been described that way and that had to mean something. At least that was Castiel’s hope as he memorized the address, realizing that it was for the library in the central province, the capital in fact. 

To think they had been in the same exact city only the other day; Castiel’s skin started to feel electrified as he fought the urge to jump up, grab Jimmy by the hand, and dash down to the train station. It was still early; they would be able to catch another train in a few hours. If this source was as reliable as the Colonel said, this would be their best chance at getting the tablet.

It seemed so unreal to have it so close after so long. 

 

_Five Years, Six Months Ago_

“Well well well, we’re looking much better, aren’t we?”

Castiel glared at the Colonel from where he stood at the door, resting his hand on the door while his automail one gripped the crutch at his right side. He wasn’t exactly happy to come to the Eastern Command under these circumstances but he just couldn’t wait any longer.

“You know, I won’t be able to allow you to join the military with only one leg,” the Colonel drawled, leaning back in his chair and cocking an eyebrow at him. “You need to be able to get around better than that.”

Rolling his eyes petulantly, Castiel hobbled his way over to the chair situated in front of the Colonel’s desk and collapsed in it. “I’m having an automail leg attached in a few weeks,” he explained impatiently. His not exactly healed shoulder joint was throbbing painfully in time with his heartbeat and was adding to his already foul mood. “My mechanic refused to attach both limbs at the same time, he said I needed time to heal from the arm before he’d do the leg.”

The Colonel sat up in his chair and narrowed his eyes at him speculatively, a smirk quirking his lips. “I must say I am slightly impressed. A few months ago you were a pathetic, bandaged wreck and now here you sit. I know that the recovery period for that sort of surgery is a minimum of a year yet you’re already looking at a second surgery.”

Castiel sat up straighter in his chair, refusing to be talked down to like a child. “I’m highly motivated to further my healing process,” he replied, ignoring the pain in his hip as his position put pressure on the joint. He could get through this, it was just a bit of discomfort. “I’m also very interested in the offer you made when you came to the house, were you serious?”

That offer had been all that Castiel had been able to think about since he fully regained his consciousness and had been able to asses the damage done to himself and Jimmy, the damage that _he_ had done. Jimmy had put on a brave face, acting like being robbed of his sight and limbs was no worse that what had happened to him but Castiel knew that he had only reaped what he’d sown. His twin was only an innocent bystander that he’d dragged into the muck with him but he was going to fix it.

It was why he was here after all.

The Colonel stood up and walked around his desk and over to the door, shutting it firmly to block out the sounds of the other building inhabitants. He started pacing behind Castiel’s chair, forcing him to turn around so he could keep an eye on him.

“Yes, I am,” the Colonel replied, sounding unbelievably pleased. He was still pacing and Castiel was certain it was on purpose; he was quickly starting to realize the Colonel liked keeping people off kilter, probably to keep himself in control. “Will it just be you or will your brother be accepting as well?”

Giving up on trying to keep the Colonel in his sights, Castiel started at the unimpressive beige wall behind the desk. “I would prefer if it were just me but it’s more than likely that once Jimmy finds out what I’ve done, he’ll want to join up too.”

Clapping his hands, the Colonel moved to sit behind his desk again; Castiel relaxed slightly into the back of his chair now that he wasn’t lurking behind him anymore. He watched as the Colonel reached into his desk and withdrew a thick stack of papers. “Well, first things first, there are several contracts you’ll need to sign in order to join the military---”

“Hold on,” Castiel interrupted, leaning forward in his seat and fixing the colonel with what he hoped was an expression that would brook no interruptions. “I won’t be signing anything until you tell me what I get in exchange, what do you know that could help me restore ourselves?”

The room fell silent for a moment; the Colonel studied him intently and Castiel found himself starting to become extremely annoyed. Did this man ever just say anything, did it always have to be big production?

Finally, he sighed and placed the papers aside. “Tell me little alchemist, in all your studies into human transmutation, did you ever come across mentions Metatron’s tablet,” the Colonel asked. 

Castiel shook his head. “No, I didn’t waste my time with studying anything that didn’t---have to do with what my brother and I were attempting,” he finally answered, stumbling slightly as he almost said aloud what he and he brother had been trying to do. Admitting to illegal human transmutation in the middle of a military command building would be extraordinarily unwise. “If it wasn’t about that, we didn’t spend much time on it.”

A taunting laugh filled the quiet of the room. “And I thought you were supposed to be marginally intelligent. What idiot doesn’t study every aspect of a dangerous subject they’re about to partake in?”

This rankled Castiel’s already frazzled nerves. He was tired from a recent inability to sleep, sore from surgery and rehabilitation, and on top of it all, he was frustrated that he’d had to even consider this choice. From the beginning, he’d known somewhere deep down that he was going to have to take the deal but it still didn’t help the feeling of helpless exasperation that he felt at having to accept help to fix a problem he created.

If it weren’t for the fact that he’d exhausted every single piece of research material in the surrounding area, Castiel wouldn’t even be here listening to this asshole.

Once he’d been able to move, he’d had Dean bring him book after book from the local alchemical library (despite Dean’s constant protests that he should be resting) and poured over them at the kitchen table. The search for a way to restore Jimmy’s sight and their bodies consumed him to the point that he could tell Bobby was worried. There had been a few conversations about taking time to heal before jumping back into alchemy but Castiel brushed these concerns aside.

More and once he’d been woken up by Dean hefting him up and out of his chair, leaving behind a tower of books and scraps of paper scribbled with notes, to deposit him in his bed next to Jimmy’s. If he was lucky, he’d slip back to sleep as Dean carried him into the room and wouldn’t notice being put into bed but most nights he woke up and, after catching sight of his brother sleeping, his usual outline marred by the damage Castiel’s stupid plan had brought on him, he found that he couldn’t fall back to sleep to save his life.

One such night, as he laid in bed listening to his brother’s soft breathing, Castiel came to the conclusion that he needed better resources. The books he had access to were not advanced enough for the alchemy that he’d need to restore themselves. There were more advanced texts but they were only allowed to be accessed by trained alchemists and the time to reach that level of alchemical prestige would take years.

Years of leaving Jimmy like this was not an option.

It had been then that he realized he did have a solution that would take less time but it also might come at a higher price. Bobby had not been pleased when Castiel had told him of his plan but he’d accepted it; Dean on the other hand was livid at the idea of Castiel joining the military but that was to be expected and he didn’t blame him for it. Besides it wasn’t as if he really wanted to have to do it but the military was the only option at this point.

This was the thought he had to remind himself constantly during that first meeting with the Colonel; slapping a member of the military wouldn’t help his chances of being accepted.

“If we could please move on from how much I fucked up,” Castiel snapped, finally losing patience with the smug ass seated in front of him, “Can we please just get down to business?”

The superior smile remained but Castiel imagined he saw a bit of an impressed gleam in that dark stare. The Colonel nodded. “A man of action, I suppose I can respect that,” he said as he rummaged in his desk again, pulling out another slimmer folder. He handed it over and motioned for Castiel to open it. “Metatron’s tablet is an ancient chunk of stone that is rumored to hold the secrets of the Anquel.”

Castiel’s eyes shot up from a rough sketch of an unimpressive stone tablet that obviously belonged in an older text. If what the Colonel was saying was true, this visit may just be worth being treated like crap by this ass.

The Anquel were an ancient sect of alchemists who, according to various alchemical theories, were the most powerful force to walk the Earth. It was said they amassed the largest catalogue of matrices and other formulae in human history and helped develop some of the more complicated branches of alchemy. Unfortunately, time had all but erased them from the world and their fantastic library of knowledge was lost but some of their contributions survived in the more complex and dangerous alchemical practices.

Practices like human transmutation.

Raising an eyebrow critically at the Colonel, Castiel studied him carefully. “So, you’re telling me that this tablet contains matrices from the Anquel,” he asked incredulously even as his heart pounded in his chest. It seemed impossible to crush the curl of hope and excitement growing inside him; there was no guarantee that this so called tablet even existed, let alone that it contained any information that would be useful but what if…

“I have substantial evidence that it does,” the Colonel said, nodding at the folder in Castiel’s hands. “The only thing I don’t have is the actual tablet itself.” 

“And if I were to agree to join the military, how would your not having this tablet help me and my brother?” Castiel set the folder carefully down on the desk even though he wanted to snatch it back up and memorize what information was in it. “It would be one thing if you had the tablet but all you seem to have to offer is hearsay.”

Castiel thought he was doing a very good job of ‘maintaining his cool’ as Jimmy would say; he didn’t want the Colonel to know just how much he was interested in the tablet. He had a not so sneaking suspicion that the Colonel was just waiting to pounce the minute he showed weakness.

“My offer is the best you’re going to find, Novak,” the Colonel shot back, clearly starting to lose patience. “Doubt my intentions and the tablet all you want but I know that you’ve exhausted all the resources on human transmutation you have available.” He rolled his eyes at Castiel’s look of shock. “Yes, I know what you’ve been up; there was no way I was leaving you two unsupervised after that stupid stunt and so I know you’ve been devouring books like candy. You need better resources and that is something the military can provide.”

This was true, Castiel would grudgingly admit. The military did keep a large portion of the specialized alchemical research under wraps; this allowed them to entice new alchemists into their service. Whole libraries filled with restricted texts were limited only to military research and the only way to gain access was by signing over several years of one’s life to the military. A lot of of alchemists signed up for short terms, long enough to study the books they wanted but not long enough to get called into active duty.

It wouldn’t have to be for long but there was still the question of why the Colonel even wanted two teenagers under his command.

“One last question before I decide, why are you so keen on getting me to join the military,” Castiel asked, hoping that the answer wasn’t bad enough that he would have to change his decision but he needed to know.

The Colonel huffed a laugh. “For your talent obviously,” he answered in the most believable tone that Castiel had heard since hobbling into the office. “You and your brother are only snot nosed brats but you not only managed to construct an matrix for a human transmutation, you survived performing it as well. I want that talent at my disposal.”

Bingo.

“So in exchange for our alchemical skills, you’ll give us the tablet,” Castiel mused aloud. It wasn’t a bad trade to be honest--

Castiel’s thought was interrupted by a sharp laugh. “Oh, see there’s snag,” the Colonel said, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t actually have the tablet, just intelligence on where the tablet may be; you would have to investigate the leads in your spare time.”

This brought Castiel’s train of thought, already barrelling down a route that planned out his short military career and ended with him using the tablet to restore his brother and himself, to a screeching halt. He sat up in his chair and frowned at him.

“Wait, you don’t have it?” Castiel asked incredulously. “Why would I sign a large portion of my life away to the military for the mere promise of getting Metatron’s tablet?”

“Because I’ll also throw the report I wrote concerning your little transmutation in a shredder if you comply.”

Castiel’s heart stopped.

Once again the Colonel dug into one of his desk drawers and revealed a folder labelled “Novak”, he smirked at it before placing back; the sound of a lock echoed through the room. “I thought the carrot might not be enough to entice you so I had a bit of a stick ready as well.”

If Castiel had had more control over his automail, he would have risked damaging the ongoing healing of the shoulder joint just to wipe that smug grin off the Colonel’s face. Luckily for the Colonel and Castiel’s criminal record, he hadn’t been through enough rehab to be able to accurately create matrices with his automail. 

He glared at the Colonel, his stomach burning with frustrated anger.

Maintaining eye contact, Castiel leaned forward and snatched the pen and stack of paper off the desk, beginning to sign. When nothing was said, he looked up and was pleased to see the Colonel gaping at him slightly.

“Just like that, you’re going to accept?” The Colonel said, clearly shocked that there was nothing else he had to say to get what he wanted. Castiel cut his gaze up from the paperwork and huffed an annoyed breath as he signed his life away.

“It’s not like I have much of a choice. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

The Colonel didn’t respond but Castiel didn’t really care. If this was what needed to be done to keep what they had done under wraps and to gain access to what he needed to right the wrongs he’d done to his twin. It was a small sacrifice to make.

A few hours later he limped his way out of the Colonel’s office. A copy of his military contract, the file containing the information on Metatron’s tablet and the only copy of the report about his and Jimmy’s failed attempt to resurrect their mother in the satchel that hung from his shoulders.

And if he felt like he’d sold his soul to the devil for his prize, well, at least he could say that this time his decisions would only affect him this time. Or at least that had been what he’d foolishly thought until the day Bobby and Jimmy disappeared for the afternoon several weeks later, only for them to reappear before dinner. 

Jimmy’s contract clutched in Bobby’s fist. 

 

“I’d like to request leave to look into this lead,” Castiel said, looking up from the paper, “while it’s possible the book is still there.”

He prepared himself for a fight; they just utterly failed their assignment and let a dangerous criminal escape. Crowley was more than likely going to send them out into the field again, a decision that Castiel could understand; Magnus couldn’t be allowed to roam free for long. 

They could use the argument that this would be the easiest lead to follow up on. It was basically going to the library and seeing if a book was on the shelves; practically a milk run. All they would have to do is convince Crowley to give them a day, two days tops, to go to the capital and---

“Permission granted.”

Castiel stared in shock at his commanding officer who had started shuffling papers on his desk nonchalantly. Jimmy gaped at this response in surprise, his mouth dropped open like a fish. Surely they couldn’t have heard right?

The silence stretched on until the Colonel looked up; he seemed surprised to see them still sitting in his office. “Well, what are you waiting for,” he asked, sounding impatient. He pointed at the door. “I said your leave was granted.”

Ignoring the voice screaming in his mind that he was an idiot (it sounded strangely like Jimmy), Castiel cleared his throat. “Sir, as much as I don’t want to look a gifthorse in the mouth---”

“Then don’t” Jimmy coughed into his fist.

Shooting him a pointless glare, Castiel continued. “---Shouldn’t we be looking for Charles Ma--”

To his continued surprise, Crowley actually rolled his eyes. “Magnus will have gone deep underground, Novak,” he said, interrupting Castiel yet again. “If you found it hard to find him before, it will be utterly impossible now. We’ll have to give him some time to gain the confidence to scurry out of whatever hole he’s hiding in.”

Well, that made sense.

There was another silence as Castiel processed the fact that after such a run of bad luck, they were finally making some progress. He could feel Jimmy practically vibrating in the chair next to him; both of them were anxious to get moving. 

“Are you two still here,” the Colonel rumbled as he looked down at a small stack of papers. 

Castiel found himself being dragged out of his chair as Jimmy pulled him towards the door. “Nope,” Jimmy called over his shoulder, shoving Castiel out of the room, “you’re all alone. “

 

Crowley pretended to work on paperwork for about five minutes after the Novak twins left his office, just to be safe. That Castiel was such a worrier, he half expected him to burst back in and beg to be put back on the Magnus case to assuage his guilty conscience for letting the rogue alchemist escape with the women.

Honestly, Crowely was surprised that they weren’t dead.

Putting aside his papers, he picked up the phone on his desk and began dialing. As he waited not so patiently for the phone to ring him through to Central Command, he processed the information that his little birdies had told him. Magnus was supposed to be the weak link in the chain he’d been tugging on but it seemed that someone else had zeroed in on that fact too and decided to fix the problem before he could exploit it.

Damn them.

A bored sounding woman answered his call and yawned her way through asking where he wanted to be transferred. He gave her the extension and waited as she more than likely plodded her way through sending him through. It felt like the phone rang for ages before it finally picked up.

“Darling, a phone call in the middle of the day,” a lightly accented voice purred into the phone causing Crowely to roll his eyes, “the office will be buzzing with gossip.”

“Charles Magnus is dead,” Crowley said evenly, not in the mood for Balthazar’s games today. “From my intelligence, it looks like Meg and Dagon got to him.”

The line crackled in the ensuing silence before Balthazar cursed softly. “Shit. He was the only way he had to finding more information. Are you sure he’s dead?”

Sighing, Crowley sat back in his chair and rubbed at his forehead. “Pretty damn,” he answered, not at all pleased. “My little birds came back to roost, beaten black and blue to boot, with a tale of two women kidnapping their prize. Two almost certainly enhanced women with eyes that flashed red.”

“And they let them live,” Balthazar said, shock evident in his voice. “I’m shocked you even got them back. They should be smears on the pavement right now if Meg and Dagon were sent to collect Magnus.”

Crowley glared at the ceiling. “I know.”

It was something he’d been trying to suss out ever since the twins had told him their tale. Meg and Dagon were notorious for for leaving a trail of bodies behind them everywhere they went and from what Castiel had told him in his debriefing, those boys had been completely at their mercy. It would have been nothing to crush them and leave no witnesses.

So why did they let them go?

Balthazar began speaking again, breaking through his thoughts. “It’s certainly mysterious,” he mused, the quiet sounds of his office leaking through the phone line. “And it presents us with a problem, where do we go from here? Your plan banked on us getting our hands on Magnus; we needed to know what he knew.”

Rubbing at his face, Crowley replied, “I’m well aware of that fact, Balthazar.”

And he really was. This threw a major wrench into his plan. Magnus had been the weak link, the only weak link, that he’d been able to find after years of watching and waiting. There was no way they were going to discover another candidate soon enough to keep everything on track. 

They needed a new strategy.

“Shit, someone’s coming,” Balthazar said, breaking through Crowley’s thoughts. There was a shuffle of papers and his friend’s tone changed as he began having a completely false conversation. “Ah, yes of course, Major. I will see to that and put someone on that right away.”

“I’ll begin thinking on a new strategy and let you know the details,” Crowley said, knowing that Balthazar wouldn’t be able to actually respond, before hanging the phone up and pushing it away. He stared at the ceiling as he mused on how everything had fallen apart so quickly before he began brainstorming for the new plan of attack they so desperately needed. They couldn’t afford to be stagnant for too long.

They didn’t have that much time left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh...secretive behavior...wonder what's going on?
> 
> I hope the tablet explanation isn't super cliche and boring. I agonized forever on how to go about that bit and it was the best I could come up with but I feel like it's sort of cheesy. 
> 
> Also for anyone who's interested, I've started working on some art for this fic during the times that I can't concentrate enough to write. I'm putting them in a separate work so that anyone who's not interested won't be bothered by them. So far I have a Jimmy portrait done but I plan on doing more :)


	8. The Lieutenant Colonel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *tosses chapter and runs away to hide*

Dean had convinced the twins to catch the next train back towards the central province, pointing out that they might as well leave tonight since they were already packed and ready to go. At first they had protested, saying that Dean hadn’t even gone home to see Bobby but, as Dean rightfully pointed out, Bobby wasn’t even expecting them since they’d had to leave Minneanna without calling him to let him know they were on their way home. Their next argument was that Dean had been through alot in the last few days and that maybe he wanted to take some time to rest. Obviously Dean countered this with a pointed look at Cas and Jimmy’s bruised and battered faces.

Cas had quickly conceded the point and ordered three tickets from the ticket booth while Dean and Jimmy went to scrounge some food from the station vendors.

He made sure they spent the ensuing day’s train ride resting and recuperating as best they could on a fucking uncomfortable train while Dean took the opportunity to tune up their automail. 

“So now we have to go and scope out a library,” Dean asked to make sure he’d gotten everything right and to keep things light since Cas’ head and shoulders were currently in his lap. His shoulder joint had been making some unsettling noises ever since the warehouse; Dean had been wanting to wait until they made it back to his workshop to look at it properly but since the plan had changed, it looked like a crash repair job was in order. Fixing the problem itself wasn’t too difficult but having to have the warm, solid (not to mention shirtless) weight of Cas’ torso in his lap was something else entirely. “Am I going to be able to tag along or is the library too full of dangerous papercuts for that?”

This earned him an unamused glare from his patient. “Don’t be an ass, Dean,” Cas said tiredly, more from lack of sleep probably than actual annoyance, “it’s a library so yes you’ll be able to come with us but you’ll probably regret it; it’ll be boring.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy sighed from his seat across from them, face formed into a grimace. “I wish I didn’t have to go, it’s not like I can help but Cassie says I have to be there.”

Cas turned his head and frowned. “I won’t be the only one doing the work, Jimmy; besides, it helps to have someone to bounce ideas off of.”

Dean tightened another bolt and sighed in satisfaction; without thinking, he patted Cas on the chest, pulling his hand away quickly as he registered the feel of hot skin under his palm. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he nodded. “Alright, buddy,” he said as casually as possible. “Try that out.”

He listened carefully as Cas sat up and began moving his arm, trying to keep an ear out for any strange noises but it was difficult when all he could think about was the way his hand was still tingling from being in contact with his chest; luckily the only sounds he could hear were the smooth clicks and slides of the automail functioning properly. Cas reached out and took the shirt that Jimmy was handing him and put it back on, much to Dean’s relief. He hadn’t been sure how much longer he would have been able to handle keeping up the charade of not looking.

A train attendant waltzed through the car while Dean was putting his tools away and announced that they would be arriving in the capital in less than an hour so they started getting ready to get off the train. They wouldn’t have be to worry about getting a hotel room on their own this time since the Colonel arranged for accommodations for them in the city but he’d warned them that “he wasn’t spending extra money on their guest” so once again they were in one room. Whether that room only had one bed like the last one was still to be determined.

Not that Dean exactly minded if the sleeping arrangements would be the same.

The train ground to a halt in the station and the three of them trooped out, bags slung over their shoulders, into the bubbling metropolis that was the capital.

This was Dean’s first visit to the capital city of Philaeres since he didn’t much care for the high amount of military presence. Seriously, there were soldiers on every corner and down every street so it wasn’t exactly a good place for someone who despised the whole institution. 

His present company excluded of course. 

Besides he knew that Cas and Jimmy were only in the military to take advantage of the resources available which was actually a plus in Dean’s book. He preferred to think that the twins were sticking it to the military by using them for their materials like that.

They trudged through the crowd at the train station and out into the hustle and bustle of the city until they reached the hotel. It only took about a half hour to get checked in and shown to their room. A shiver went through Dean as he noticed the single queen bed but it was quickly dashed by the sight of the small couch. 

_Knock it off_ , he lectured himself harshly as they dropped off their bags and took turns changing their travel dirty clothes in the bathroom. He glared at his own slightly flushed cheeks in the mirror; they were flushed from seeing a peek of the trail of dark hair that Jimmy accidentally flashed him as he came out of the bathroom while tugging on his clean shirt. _Stop creeping on them you...you freaking creeper. They’re your best friends. You’re gonna lose them acting like this._

But it was so hard not to. He was only human and seriously, who wouldn’t get distracted by Cas and Jimmy? With those blue eyes and well defined jaws, oh and the deep voices that that they’d brought back with them from basic training. Dean just about had a heart attack the first time they opened their mouths and his name pouring out in dual rumbles that went straight to his…

_Focus!_

Dean’s eyes shot open, having closed as his mind wandered down memory lane. His face was flushed from how vivid the daydream had been. He hurriedly splashed some cold water on his face hoping to cool the heated skin...and maybe the other heated places on him too.

A few deep breaths and another internal lecture later, he left the bathroom to rejoin Cas and Jimmy.

 

Watching Cas and Jimmy doing their alchemy hoo-doo was something Dean could probably do all day. They were just so intense when they were laying out their complicated symbols and formulas and he swore up and down that he could feel the energy or whatever it was in the air when they charged them up. It also didn’t hurt that Dean had may have a little thing for watching those strong elegant hands working to create the complex, almost delicate looking designs. The ultimate takeaway was that Dean enjoyed watching alchemy time with Cas and Jimmy… 

But library time with Cas and Jimmy?

Yeah, not so much.

Dean sighed as he allowed the cover of the book in front of him slam closed; Cas looked up from his book and arched an eyebrow at him. Normally this would be cause for Dean to immediately ride herd on his body’s embarrassing reactions to an expression like that but he only sighed again. He was tired, even his earlier excitement at being able to help the twins didn’t help break through the mental exhaustion.

“How many more do we have to go through,” Jimmy asked wearily, slumping in his seat.

Turning to look at the stack of books Cas had assigned them, Dean grimaced. “A lot, how’s that for an answer?”

Jimmy scrunched his nose in a way that probably wasn’t nearly as attractive as Dean found it and sighed. “Shitty, that’s how that is.”

They’d been coming to the library every day for the past week and still had nothing to show for it but in their defense, the information that the twins had been given from their asshole C.O. was extremely vague and the military library in the capital was absolutely _massive_. Dean was positive that he’d never, or would never, see as many books as the amount in that huge imposing building. With the enormous amount of books, it made searching for the one book they needed an almost impossible task. 

Especially since they weren’t exactly sure _what_ they were looking for.

The only information they had to go on was that the book might be in the library thanks to that stupid tendency towards utter secrecy that alchemists had. That had been enough to give Dean a sense of discouragement and it only got worse when Jimmy casually mentioned that the book might even be in code.

_“So it might be like, a fucking cookbook or something?!”_

_“Yep, some of these hardcore alchemists, the older ones especially, were paranoid dicks. They encoded everything.”_

“Why don’t you take a break, Dean,” Cas suggested, his voice breaking through the burnt haze of Dean’s mind. “You’ve been a great help but you’re not used to this like we are. Go take a walk or something to clear your head.”

Jimmy’s face contorted into a pouting expression as he folded his arms against his chest. “Better take that offer,” he said sulkily, nodding towards where Cas was buried in an even bigger stack of books. “Cassie is a real hard ass and he might change his mind.”

This pulled a scowl out of Cas that actually made Dean want to laugh. Standing up, he leaned backwards to crack his spine. “How about I go and find us something to eat,” he suggested before a thought occurred to him. “We can eat in here, can’t we?”

“Yeah, as long as we don’t leave a mess,” Jimmy answered, stretching his own arms over head. Cas was still looking at his book but he nodded, going along with Jimmy’s answer.

Dean started walking towards the doors of the reading room they were occupying. “Alright then,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

 

It didn’t take long for Dean to find the small cafeteria (which just went to show how big this damn library was, needing its own cafeteria and all) and soon he had a nice selection of sandwiches, snacks, and drinks for the three of them. He left the cafeteria feeling pretty satisfied with his choices and hoping that the twins would be too but as he turned the corner, he paused.

Which way were the study rooms again?

He wandered down the hallway with his bag of food, hoping to run into someone, but unfortunately for him, no one appeared. Most of the doors were shut but every so often one would be open so Dean would peek his head inside to see if there was anyone there. Nine times out of ten there wasn’t.

Just as he was getting discouraged, he stuck head into a room that had “Records” written on the door in block letters and found a tall blonde man in a military uniform peering down at a slew of papers. The guy seemed pretty absorbed by what he was reading but since he was the only person Dean had seen in about twenty minutes, Dean was forced to interrupt him.

“Hey, um,” Dean said, trying not to spook the guy; he looked up from his papers and looked at Dean curiously. “I’m trying to find the reading rooms, mind pointing me in the right direction?”

The man blinked at him owlishly for a second, probably needing to readjust his eyes, before he grinned. “Oh, of course,” he answered, his voice slightly accented. He stood up and walked over, extending his hand. “It is a bit confusing around here. I know had a hard time finding my way around in the beginning. I’m Lt Colonel Balthazar Angier by the way.”

Dean grinned, glad that he’d stumbled on the one other non-dick soldier in the whole city, and held out his hand. “Dean Winchester,” he replied automatically. 

The Lt Colonel shook his hand firmly and grinned. “It’s nice to meet you, Dean,” he responded as he let go of Dean’s hand. His face took on an expression of mild curiosity and his sharp gaze seemed to analyze Dean. “Forgive me, Dean but may I ask why you’re here?” He looked pointedly down at Dean’s plainly civilian clothes before looking up with a raised eyebrow. “It’s fairly obvious that you aren’t a soldier.”

At first, Dean’s first instinct was to give him a smartass answer for obviously judging him based on his clothes but changed his mind as he realized that Lt Colonel Angier was just curious; it didn’t seem like he was going to call for the M.P.s to throw his ass out of the military library for not being in the military. Deciding to give the Lt Colonel the benefit of the doubt, he answered truthfully.

“I’m here helping some friends of mine with their alchemy research,” he explained before holding up his bag of food. “I drew the short straw to go and look for something to eat and I...might’ve gotten a little turned around.”

“I’d be happy to help you back,” Lt Colonel Angier offered jovially. He gestured towards the table and sighed. “Just let me organize all this. The head librarian would banish me if I left the room like this.”

He moved to start gathering papers and, after a few minutes, Dean placed down his bag to help. If the Lt Colonel didn’t want his help, he’d let Dean know. He settled for tidying the stacks of paper. While they were working, Lt Colonel Angier started muttering about the wrath of the head librarian and began regaling Dean with tales of his run-ins with the die hard woman who defended the sanctity of the library. Just the image of the reasonably imposing Lt Colonel having his ass handed to him by “the smallest woman I’ve ever seen” had Dean laughing until his sides ached. Lt Colonel Angier, who insisted on being called Balthazar, was actually pretty laid back for someone in the military and Dean was surprised to find he was enjoying talking to him. 

In fact, he was enjoying himself so much that that was where the twins eventually found him; sitting at the now cleared table, chatting with his new friend.

“Dean, we’ve been looking all over for you,” Cas voice broke through the explanation Dean was giving Balthazar about his idea for a new type of automail. 

Starting at the sudden appearance of the twins, Dean turned around to see Jimmy and Cas standing in the doorway. Cas looked more stressed than usual and Dean felt a pang of guilt for being the cause but Jimmy just looked amused. 

“Ah, these must be the friends you were attempting to feed when you got lost,” Balthazar said, standing up. To Dean’s surprise, he sketched a small salute. “Good afternoon, Majors.” 

Dean’s brow knit in confusion and he raised an eyebrow at the twins. Cas sighed and waved a hand at Balthazar. “There’s no need for that,” he said politely as they walked further in the room. “My brother and I don’t really subscribe to military rank thing.”

“Military alchemists are given an unofficial rank of major,” Jimmy piped up as Dean raised his hand and opened his mouth to ask about the “military rank thing”. He walked over and took a seat next to Dean, tilting his head towards one of the badges sewn to his jacket. “Technically this thing makes us majors but not many alchemists really care about being high up in the military. We’re strictly in it for the books.”

Dean smirked and smacked him lightly on the arm. “Yeah, you big nerds and your books,” he teased. “It’s not like you bookworms would be good majors anyway. I mean think of the poor soldiers having to try and figure out which Major Novak they’re reporting to.”

“Oh, are you two the Novaks,” Balthazar interrupted, tilting his head as he studied them curiously before he grinned and shook his head. “I should have known. It’s not as if there are very many sets of alchemist twins in the military.”

The three of them looked at him. “How do you know who we are,” Cas asked. He sounded perfectly pleasant but Dean could feel a slight undercurrent of caution, not that Dean blamed him. The last time someone who the twins didn’t know recognized them, they ended up being beaten half to death in a warehouse.

Balthazar raised his hands and attempted to look non-threatening; he even backed up a few steps to show that he meant no harm. “I’m a friend of Colonel Crowley’s,” he answered, his voice level and calm. “I’m also aware of the...special cases you take for him. I sometimes provide him with information on what’s going on here at headquarters.”

Dean felt the tension in the air ebb slightly as Cas nodded. “I remember the Colonel mentioning he had a contact at Central Command,” he replied, his posture relaxing. Dean could tell that he didn’t exactly trust Balthazar but Dean thought that he was a good guy. Cas extended his hand which was taken firmly by Balthazar. “It’s nice to meet you but I’m afraid we must be going.”

“I thought you said we were going to be here most of the night,” Dean asked. 

It had been a point of contention between Cas and Jimmy when the former had declared they would be spending the whole day at the library searching for the book. Jimmy had pointed out that looking for that long wouldn’t be helpful since Dean and Cas’ eyes would get tired while Cas offered their limited time-frame as a counterpoint. In the end, Jimmy had grudgingly agreed that getting the most out of their trip to the capital was best. 

Jimmy sighed and stood up. “Yeah, the Colonel called,” he said with all the enthusiasm of someone being told they needed to get teeth pulled. “He has another case of disappearances that needs looked into now. He said that we’d had enough time to “horse around” and that we needed to start “pulling our weight again”.” The addition of air quotes made Dean smile.

To their surprise, Balthazar sighed too. “I’m afraid that this is my doing,” he said almost sheepishly. He gestured to the pile of maps and papers that Dean had helped him clean up. “I’ve been looking into an issue for the Colonel and I may have stumbled upon a rash of disappearances in the northern province.”

Jimmy snorted but looked vaguely amused. “So you’re the one that sends us on wild goose chases all the time,” he drawled, head tilted to one side as he nodded. “And here I thought it was Crowley. That last case in the eastern province sucked hardcore by the way.”

There wasn’t any actual malice in this last comment, Dean knew that Jimmy didn’t blame anyone but the mystery women, but Jimmy’s words caused the light and genial expression on Balthazar’s face to turn serious and dim. “I did find that one,” he answered, fidgeting slightly as he looked from twin to twin, “and I am deeply sorry for how that one turned out. If I had known that Magnus had accomplices, I would have---”

“It’s alright,” Cas interrupted. He held his hand out in a calming gesture and gave him a small smile. “I think it’s safe to say that we all severely underestimated Magnus and his abilities.” Cas’ face hardened slightly but not towards Balthazar, that much Dean was certain. “It’s a mistake that will not happen again.”

“Well, I still feel a bit responsible,” Balthazar said, his tone taking on its previous lightness. He paused for a minute before clapping his hands together and beaming. “I know, come to my home tonight for dinner. You won’t be able to catch a train for the northern province at this time of day so why don’t you let me make up for my part in your latest case with a home cooked meal.”

“Ah, you don’t have to do that, man,” Jimmy said, waving off the offer with a congenial smile. “Like, Cas said; you couldn’t have know.”

Cas nodded and looked back at Balthazar. “I agree, you don’t owe us,” he continued, “and we wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense,” Balthazar scoffed, brushing off the twins’ protests. “My husband always makes entirely too much food. You should see the state of our fridge, absolutely filled in leftovers. You boys would be doing us a huge favor.”

Dean opened his mouth to help Cas and Jimmy politely decline Balthazar’s offer but his stomach decided that the moment had come to announce its presence. A loud but muffled gurgle sounded obnoxiously loud in the small room causing all three of the other men to turn and look at him. Jimmy snorted with laughter while Cas sighed and shook his head. 

“Well, I think that settles it then,” Balthazar said, finally breaking the slightly awkward silence (or at least it felt awkward to Dean anyway). “You three deserve a proper meal before you go back to eating that garbage they sell on the trains.” The twins both began to protest but Balthazar cut them off. “I won’t take no for an answer. Now let me gather my things and I’ll meet you in the lobby in fifteen minutes. Don’t be late.”

And with this last set of orders, Balthazar picked up his stack of papers and disappeared out the door, waving cheerfully over his shoulder as he went and leaving Dean, Cas and Jimmy to stare after him in confusion.

 

“Oh god, that was so good,” Dean sighed, leaning back into his seat and patting his overfull stomach. He looked down the table to where Balthazar was sitting next to his husband. “That was delicious, Max.”

“I think it’s more the fact you guys have been living off of junk food more than how good my cooking is,” Max said with a smile, “but I won’t turn down a compliment.”

They all laughed and the room fell into a comfortable silence before Jimmy started asking what sort of magic Max had worked on the potatoes. Cas plied Balthazar for more information about the situation in Rauchsburg. Dean, full and slightly drowsy, sat back and just enjoyed the lull of conversation. He was seated on one end of the table by himself which gave him a nice view of Cas and Jimmy talking animatedly with Balthazar and Max.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Dean was hit with a outrageous wave of longing. Well, it wasn’t out of nowhere; it very obviously came from watching how cozy Balthazar and Max were at their side of the table; their hosts had their chairs close enough that they could sit hip to hip while Balthazar had his arm draped loosely around Max’s shoulders. They just looked so damn content and happy.

And Dean was jealous.

He’d realized a long time ago that he was not just attracted to not just one, but two, of his friends; his only two friends honestly. At first he’d tried to fight it wholeheartedly, refusing to entertain any of the thoughts that liked to sneak into his head late at night as he lay in bed wondering what Cas and Jimmy were doing while so far from home. Dean had tried to fool himself into thinking that the twins were his brothers, that he was trying to fill the hole left behind by Sammy and his parents but as the years went on, it was impossible to miss the signs. 

Sharing a room with Cas and Jimmy while they were home from their military duties became dangerous. Not matter what Dean did, he couldn’t keep his eyes to himself; they were constantly drifting over the twins’ exposed skin while his mind wondered what it would be like to run his lips over the muscled curves of their shoulders. 

Then came the fateful day that Bobby decided he was a skilled enough automail engineer to start taking on clients of his own and what better way than to begin that to take on their long time customers, Cas and Jimmy?

Dean probably could have made an excuse as to why he shouldn’t be the one maintaining the twins’ automail but he also had a tendency to worry. This meant that he couldn’t pass on the opportunity to make sure Cas and Jimmy’s automail was at its best. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bobby but this way he _knew_ that everything was okay. Unfortunately taking on the twins as clients meant that he quickly realized he would have to touch them.

Checking Cas and Jimmy’s automail immediately became the best and worst thing that Dean had to do on a regular basis.

Though to be fair, it would take a man much stronger than himself to resist the allure that the twins had and it was unfair to expect him _not_ to become distracted when he literally had to touch them. Dean’s eyes wandered surreptitiously over Cas and Jimmy as his mind conjured memories of the muscled limbs and torso those military jackets (the one and only thing Dean enjoyed about the twins’ military service) hid; muscles built from months of training and years of working difficult missions all around the country. He swore he could feel the heat of their skin on the palms of his hands as he sat there, watching them move animatedly as they fell deeper into their discussions, and it made his hands twitch slightly.

He’d always imagined that Jimmy would be the more responsive of the two; Jimmy was always complaining that Dean was tickling him when he checked the connection port for his hip, squirming away from his hand slightly. Cas would be more restrained, like he was at his appointments, but in the privacy of his own mind, he liked to imagine that Cas would be the one to make small satisfied noises as his hand ran down that well defined chest down to his h---

“I’ll bet being their mechanic is a hard business, isn’t it Dean?”

Dean counted his lucky stars that his after dinner lethargy kept him from jumping guiltily as Max’s voice broke through his fantasy. He quickly looked away from Cas and Jimmy to smile, hopefully in a convincingly laid back manner to throw off any suspicions of what he’d been thinking about. Balthazar was giving him a strange look but as his features quickly turned back to an easy smile, Dean figured he was just being paranoid.

He snorted a laugh at his silliness and in response to the question and shrugged. “Well, it would be a damned lie to say they make it easy for me,” he said with amusement, causing Balthazar and Max to laugh and the twins to look sheepish, “but I wouldn’t say it’s too bad. They keep me on my toes with all the repairs I need to make to keep them in tip top shape.”

“You must be a very devoted mechanic,” Balthazar said. “I can’t think of many people who would give up their business to travel the country with their clients.”

Dean’s heart stuttered a little bit at the strange emphasis on the word mechanic but he calmed when Balthazar’s face remained at ease. Cas and Jimmy shifted in their seats at the momentary pause in conversation and Dean just ask quickly began to worry again as he imagined that the twins’ were uncomfortable with what Balthazar may or may not have been implying.

Luckily before things could get tense, Max spoke up. “I think it’s more that Dean is a devoted friend, Zar,” he said, smacking his husband lightly on the chest and scowling playfully. Max looked over at Dean and smiled. “If you don’t mind me getting sappy for a moment, I think it’s kinda sweet that you want to take care of your best friends, Dean.”

Heat suffused Dean’s cheeks and he tried to force the blush away; he waved his hand vaguely towards the twins’ side of the table as he tried not to look them in the eye. “Somebody has to make sure these two aren’t hopping around on rusted hunks of metal,” he said, forcing his voice to be low and gruff in hopes of disguising the thoughts going through his mind. Jimmy makes a sound of protest while Cas scowls almost playfully at him. “They seem to think automail just maintains itself.”

“Not really,” Jimmy argued, rolling his eyes in Dean’s direction and smirking. “We just know that you’ll do it for us.”

“And might I point out,” Cas said with a bit more dignity as he held up a finger. “We do come back for maintenance.” Dean glared at him until Cas squirmed in his seat sheepishly in his chair and continued in an amusingly contrite tone. “Just not in the exact timeframe that you specify.”

Dean, hit with a wave of affection at Cas’ acting like scolded schoolboy, smiled. “Yeah, you guys do always come back,” he agreed, his voice a bit softer than he’d care for in a situation like this.

Hoping to cover for this small lapse, Dean began to pick at the remains of his dinner despite still being incredibly full. As he went to pop a tiny piece of bread into his mouth he caught sight of Balthazar looking at him with a speculative gaze. Dean’s heart pounded. What if his slip had been noticed? But before he could get himself worked into a full blown worry, he was brought back to the conversation at hand. 

Jimmy was pointing at him and grinning at him in that made Dean’s already topsy turvey insides warm pleasantly. “I would like to point out that we at least come back before it falls completely apart,” he said almost smugly. “Shouldn’t we get brownie points for that?”

Rolling his eyes and laughing, Dean snorted. “Yeah because “at least my automail is still a large chunk” is such an accomplishment,” he teased. “You guys would be hopping around on peg legs without me reminding you to come home every once a while.” He paused and, remembering something, he gave Cas a mischievous grin. “Even though Bobby told me the reason you guys actually come back is because you two big bad alchemists are scared of the wrath of your mechanic.”

Balthazar and Max roared with laughter while Jimmy spluttered indignantly about not being afraid of a mechanical nerd. Meanwhile Cas attempted to give a dignified denial of Dean’s accusations but only sounded even more flustered. Dean forgot about his earlier worry about accidentally revealing too much and joined Balthazar and Max in their laughter.

“Oh, you three are fantastic dinner guests,” Balthazar said, slightly breathless and wiping at his eyes. He beamed at all three of them. “I’d insist you come back for dinner tomorrow but I know you’re headed north so next time you’re in town you have to come by and visit.”

Nodding emphatically, Max leaned into his husband’s side and grinned. “Definitely I can’t get enough of this teasing. It’s so entertaining. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you all were married like Zar and me,” he said, chuckling lightly and patting the hand on his shoulder gently. “This one can’t stop teasing me about how I’d have to run around in dirty clothes if it weren’t for him taking care of the laundry.”

Dean stiffened at the implication of this comparison and managed to cut off the freak out he was poised to fall into when he notices that Cas and Jimmy have gone entirely too quiet. He looks over and see that they are sitting almost rigidly in their chairs, both with identically strange looks on their faces. All of Max’s delicious food swirls in his stomach ominously as he realizes that the the idea of Dean being in a relationship with one of them makes them feel uncomfortable. 

And yet, at the same time, Dean can’t help but feel a spark of hope. 

He knows his dream is plainly never going to happen what with how uncomfortable Cas and Jimmy were with the notion. Dean didn’t have long to ponder whether it was safe to hope or not as Max launched into a story about the time Balthazar accidentally bleached his uniform jacket.

It didn’t escape his notice though how Balthazar kept giving him and the twins amused smiles for the rest of the evening.

 

Despite the constant fear that he’d been found out, Dean enjoyed the time they spend at Balthazar and Max’s. Dinner was infinitely much better than the meal they would have either gotten from the library cafeteria or the hotel kitchen and it was nice to spend the evening in a place that wasn’t a hotel room. Cas and Jimmy seemed to be enjoying themselves too; they’d been grinning and laughing all night as they visited their newest friends and as usual, seeing the twins happy made Dean feel extremely content.

Unfortunately Cas had to make the executive decision for them to leave, pointing out that they still needed to pack all their stuff and be ready to head to the train station tomorrow morning. Max and Balthazar were disappointed of course but agreed that they needed to get back to their hotel. They refused the offer of taking them back to their hotel but weren’t able to stop Max from loading them down with container after container of leftovers and other foods he had on hand. Jimmy had tried to protest but Balthazar made a convincing case.

_“The more you take, the less I have to eat. I love my husband’s cooking but there is such a thing as too many leftovers.”_

Cas and Jimmy end up in the kitchen with Max looking for a way for them to carry their mountain of food back with them to their hotel (and probably on their train ride too if the size of the pile was any indication). Dean ended up in the sitting room with Balthazar once he realizes that there’s not much he can do to help the trio in the kitchen without getting in the way. 

The sitting room was covered in a coating of papers; maps and reports litter the small table and even more are pinned to the walls. Dean observed with interest the multitude of handwritten notes stuck to various papers with arrows pointing at others. It became very clear that whatever Balthazar was currently working on was insanely complex. 

Dean whistled as he moseyed around, hands in his pockets. “Wow, Balthazar, you really do bring your work home with you don’t you?” he said, in awe of the mountain of paper taking over the room. He looked over his shoulder at Balthazar. “I’m surprised Max doesn’t make you clean all this up. Somebody’s liable to think you’re some sort of creepy serial killer.”

Balthazar chuckled and shuffled a small stack of papers on the table. “This is actually a side project of mine to be honest,” he admitted as he put the papers into a folder and turned to look at Dean. He nodded towards the kitchen, a soft smile on his face. “Max did say he wanted the sitting room back so I suppose I really should look into getting another place to keep all this. Though Max just thinks it’s all terribly boring so he avoids this room unless he wants to annoy me into stopping for a while.”

An image of Cas and Jimmy pulling him away from his work table to eat dinner flashed before Dean’s eyes as he glances idly through maps; they are military in nature and therefore caused Dean’s nose to wrinkle in distates. His thoughts immediately took on a darker tint, as they tended to do when the military brought back memories of that time, but luckily the memory and the sound of Cas and Jimmy’s voices rumbling through the wall separating them from the kitchen kept him from sinking too far. In fact, it made him smile.

“Yeah, sounds like me and my workshop,” he replied, a bit of the warm fuzzy feeling returned as the memory reminded him of how the three of them had played board games for hours that night. Well, more like Cas and Dean played games while Jimmy had ‘played referee’ which meant he would dramatically declare that one of them was cheating. He looked up a Balthazar and grinned. “When Cas and Jimmy are home ,they’re always dragging me away from my work saying that they don’t get to see me enough. They say that I don’t get to spend their visit wasting away with my tools and metal body parts.”

They both laughed at this and Balthazar’s eyes twinkled with mirth. Neither of them speak once the room falls silence. Dean began to feel that he was being analyzed with the way Balthazar seemed to be studying him intently and dropped his gaze to the papers again to avoid the feeling.

There was a rustle of clothing as Balthazar walked over to stand by him at the table; he leaned a hip against the table and crossed his arms. “You know Dean, now that we’re alone,” he asked, his face strangely serious. “Do you mind if I give you a bit of advice?” 

Legitimately confused as to where there was going, Dean shrugged and nodded. “Sure why not?”

Balthazar glanced at the kitchen pointedly in away that had Dean’s stomach tightening before looking back at him. “As cliche as it must sound, life is short. Don’t let your mind try to tell you what someone must think of you stop you from taking a chance since nine times out of ten they’ll surprise you,” he said in a tone that was a weird mix of solemn and earnest. He gripped Dean’s shoulder companionably and looked at him, his gaze intense as if trying to see if Dean was understanding something important. “And definitely don’t let other people’s opinions stop you from pursuing what you want.”

Unable to withstand the knowing look in those eyes, Dean glanced back down at the maps for a minute; trying to collect his thoughts. Balthazar knew and this left Dean with the only conclusion that he was nowhere as stealthy in his feelings as he thought. He’d only met the Lt Colonel today and now all of the sudden he’s onto Dean’s most guarded secret. 

Was he really that obvious?

Determined to deny, deny, deny, Dean opened his mouth to protest but before he could start, Balthazar cut him off with a casual wave of his hand. “Ah, ah, ah,” he said calmly as he pulled his hand back from Dean’s shoulder. “Let’s not sully this moment by claims of denial and wild assumptions of what I mean. Let’s just call this some friendly advice and move on.”

He really must be that transparent. 

Embarrassed, Dean attempted to hide that he was going to do just that though the flush on his cheeks probably gave him away anyway. He adopted a faintly smart ass tone and smirked. “Actually,” he said as he pointed down at the table. “I was just going to say that I don’t know how you can stand being in the room all the time with all these papers.”

Balthazar arched an eyebrow and looked intrigued, having not expect this. “Oh and why do you say that?”

Dean huffed a humorless laugh and gestured to all the maps. “Because of all these casualty reports.” He looked back down at map of the eastern province and tried to ignore memories of him mom dad and Sammy as wave of sadness comes over him. “They’re just a reminder of how much death there’s been but then you’re in the military so you’re probably used to it. Death’s what they do best after all.” A strained silence fell over the room and Dean’s stomach lurched as he realized what he’d said. Balthazar was a good man, he didn’t deserve that. “Shit, that was awful of me, I’m so sorry. I just have some issues with the military and---”

His apology is waved off in a good natured way though the glum look on Balthazar’s face is enough to confirm that Dean’s words did hit him harder than he was admitting. “It’s alright, I know that I don’t exactly work for a charity organization, Dean,” he said quietly and Dean could swear he saw a flash of regret on his face before he lightened up again. “But yes, this room is a bit depressing sometimes so let’s go to the kitchen. Castiel and Jimmy are probably waiting for you.”

About ten minutes later, the three of them are finally headed out the door with their bags of food. Max and Balthazar pulled promises out of them to come and visit next time they are in town and not to be shy about popping in if they don’t have a chance to call before hand. Despite the strained conversation in the sitting room, Dean’s cheek ached from smiling so much as he and the twins made their way down the sidewalk. Jimmy was chattering about calling dibs on various goodies that Max had slipped into their bags when he abruptly changed subject and asked Dean what he and Balthazar had been up to in the sitting room.

“Nothing much,” Dean said, not wanting to admit the whole truth. He shrugged and kept walking. “Just about Balthazar and his weird obsession with military maps. Now hurry up, we need to get all our shit packed so we’re ready for tomorrow.”

 

A knock on the doorjamb interrupts Balthazar’s train of thought long enough for him to register Max asking if he’s coming to bed. 

“In a bit,” Balthazar sighed, his eyes moving from the paper in front of him to where his husband is leaning casually against the doorframe. Damn that man for being such lovely distraction. “I wanted to look at these casualty reports from sector 12. I’d planned on getting the analysis done for tomorrow but then I didn’t anticipate inviting guests over when I set that deadline.”

Max laughed and walked over and around the desk to drape himself over Balthazar’s back. “Well, I’m glad you invited them,” he said, lips brushing his ear. “They’re so much fun to have at the table. It’s so sweet to see them all so oblivious of each other. I hope they get wise eventually.”

Smiling, Balthazar grabbed Max’s hand and kissed it. “I may have had a chat with Dean,” he admitted, “just to nudge him in the right direction. From what I’ve learned from Crowley, those boys deserve to be happy.”

“And that’s one of the reasons I love you, you big softie,” Max said sappily, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Hopefully they come back soon; I have a feeling their visits will be astronomically better than those officers that we have over every so often.” Balthazar felt Max shudder against him and his mouth frown against his neck. “That one general is a major creep.”

Balthazar sighed and nodded in agreement. “Yes, I’m not entirely fond of him either but helping Fergus with his career requires that we partake of the schmoozing when he’s in town and he doesn’t have a place here.”

The arms around his chest and shoulders tightened reassuringly. “I know and I’m happy to help him but that doesn’t stop that guy from giving me the heebie jeebies,” Max said matter of factly. He craned his neck and gave Balthazar a kiss on the mouth before pulling away with a smile. “And now that I’ve given myself the chills thinking about that general, I’m going to go to bed and wait for _someone_ to come and warm me up when he’s done looking at all this nonsense.”

Shaking his head at his sassy husband, Balthazar grabbed Maxy by his wrist before he could get too far away and pulled him back for another kiss. “I’ll be there in little while, darling.”

Max left the sitting room after smirking at him, leaving Balthazar alone. He looked back at his papers and rubbed his face; he’d much rather be getting into bed with Max but this work needed to be done. 

He needed to figure out what is causing the high casualty rates in sector 12. The recent upset is part of a long line of violence that he and Crowley suspected was a portent of something much more sinister than mere rebel unrest. The death toll was unconscionable. Heart heavy at the thought of his grim task, Balthazar looked back down at the staggeringly high numbers of dead and wounded and sighed in defeat when a pattern refused to emerge. Maybe Dean was right; maybe all this was all just due to the military being skilled in causing death.

In the middle of getting another stack of papers, Balthazar freezes. His mind stuck on one thought.

The military caused death.

Scrambling for papers and hoping he is wrong, Balthazar laid out all his other reports and stared at them. His skin went cold as he finally saw the pattern. He circled the incidences with a shaking hand to be sure, dread built in his stomach at what he found. He sat back heavily as the true weight of what he saw set in, seeping into his bones like a poison.

Dear god...how had he missed it. How in the hell did he miss something so damned obvious?

Crowley needed to know immediately.

Balthazar gathered his papers hurriedly and began writing a letter. It was too dangerous to phone Crowley; this information was too volatile for a form of communication so easily interfered with. The only safe way would by the much slower but less conspicuous courier mail. Tomorrow he could try to let Crowley know through a coded phone call to expect a highly important package. Rapidly finishing the letter, he put the papers in an large packet envelope and, after making sure Max was actually asleep, slipped out of the house.

It’s on the way to the post office, that he noticed him.

He’d figured that he’s get assigned a tail eventually. Even if working on the project was a secret, there were still interested parties who didn’t want Crowley to advance so he knew he’d bear watching. Maybe not too closely but he’d known that he’d be watched from time to time. What’s actually causing the legitimate fear that coursed through his body was the true understanding of _who_ was watching him. Now he had to be even more careful. 

To be honest he knew he shouldn’t be doing this in the dead of night, it would look too suspicious but he has no other choice in this case.

Luckily, Balthazar had plans in place for tails and he managed to shake the guy after a few blocks so he could hurry to the local post office. The place deserted and down a side street; the perfect place for him to do what he needed. He was in the process of stuffing the letter to Crowley into his pocket so he can grab pen when it happened; he needed to write ‘Important’ on the packet of documents for the post office when he felt the presence of a person behind him. 

Shit...someone found him.

“That didn’t take too long, did it,” Balthazar said as casually as possible, fighting the urge to tense as he reached carefully for his belt and the pistol there. It was highly likely he was going to have to defend himself; he knew the newly revealed enemy would have no qualms with killing him. Gun at the ready and his resolve in place, Balthazar continued to speak easily as he turned,”I’ll go quietly; just promise me that my husband---”

His voice died out as he saw who was behind him. 

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Maxed asked sweetly, still in his pajamas. “What are you doing out on such a dark night all alone?”

Except Max was not Max.

The smile was too sharp and the tone too mocking; a feeling of wrong permeated the air around the figure that looked like his husband. Whatever hallucination or alchemical trick that was causing this, that creature was not his sweet lover. Not Max laughed and Balthazar realized he must have said this aloud in his shock.

“Of course I’m Max,” Not Max said before plucking at Max’s pajama shirt; it was one of Balthazar’s old shirts. “Well I’m in his meatsuit anyway.” The things head tilted to one side, looking for all world like it was listening for something before it nodded. “He’s actually very distressed right now. Wants to know why you’re pointing a gun at him, poor baby.”

What the bloody hell is going on?

Balthazar’s palms were sweating and his mind was racing along with his heartbeat as he tried to figure what sort of monster was impersonating (or inside?) his husband. His knowledge of alchemy was limited but even he knew there was no way to make a replica of a human being and Balthazar knew his husband. It was why his body was rebelling; a light breeze blew around them and Balthazar smelled achingly familiar smells that made the bottom of his gut fall out as the truth slammed into him.

The body in front of him was his Max but whatever was controlling him was a monster.

While Balthazar’s world came crashing down around him, Not Max looked on while smiling evilly. “That look on your face is just delicious,” it purred, the tone was disgustingly close to the one Max used when he and Balthazar where alone and it made him want to vomit. “This night really is my night.” It walked in closer, allowing Balthazar to observe the foreign mannerisms that hammered home the strangeness of what was happening. “I thought I was in for a boring time on Novak watch duty and look what drops into my lap. A Lt. Colonel who’s way too clever for his own good.”

Despite being sure that his quota of shock being reached, Balthazar’s spine tingled ominously at the mention of Castiel and Jimmy. “What do you mean “Novak watch duty”,” he demanded, his already cemented concern for the boys distracting him from the horror of his situation. He brandished the gun though he couldn’t use it. “Why are you watching them? What are you going to do to them?”

A dark laugh echoed in the street as Not Max threw back its head slightly in amusement. “Unfortunately not a damn thing; not that I don’t want to, to be honest,” it replied truthfully with a thoughtful expression that morphed into something more sinister as it looked at him once more. Not Max grinned. “But I’d be more concerned for what I’m going to do with you.”

Balthazar swallowed, his mouth dry. Even with this admission, he can’t bring himself to pull the trigger. He’d been trying to for the past few minutes but how could he shoot the man he loved? There had to be another way; he just needed time. “Oh,” he asked, forcing his voice to be level and fearless, “and what will you do with me?”

The coldness in those normally warm eyes tore through Balthazar more than the words that came next. 

“Kill you obviously.” 

Not Max plucked at Max’s pajama shirt again with Max’s elegant hands. “Why do you think I traded out my hot bod for disgustingly male meatsuit,” it posed conversationally as if Balthazar was supposed to understand what any of this madness meant. Not Max sneered at him. “You can’t do a damn thing to me while I’m wearing your precious Max. You don’t have the balls for it.”

Balthazar’s hands trembled, he knows the thing in Max is right. He can’t do anything, not with the gun. Maybe he could use hand to hand to get away but then that thing would still have his husband. The information he needed to pass on was so very important but Max…his sweet, loving Max…

They’d promised to protect each other.

Guilt and shame washed over Balthazar as he lowered the gun and tossed it aside. “If I give you the information, can Max go free,” he asked softly as if betraying his friend quietly would lessen the blow, “he doesn’t know anything about my work.”

After a minute of agonizing silence, Not Max nodded and rolled its eyes. “Humans, so soft and sentimental,” it drawled, “not even going to fight for your life because you’re worried about your poor precious husband.” It wrinkled Max’s nose in disgust. “You’re pathetic and make me want to puke but sure, why not?” Not Max held out its hand. 

Balthazar forced himself to hand over the packet; his guts twisting nastily as he did. Once the packet is in the thing’s hand, it laughed. “Good, now a deal’s a deal. Once you’re dead, I’ll let your boy go,” Not Max said. It tossed the envelope to the ground. “Personally I’m glad you suggested this. I like the idea that you’re husband is going have to live with the memory of killing you with his own hands.”

Before he can register what that could mean, Balthazar saw the flash of metal and felt a burning pain in his stomach again and again and again and again. The image of the thing in Max making his husband’s face contort into a smile of twisted pleasure swam before his eyes as he was stabbed. Eventually the blows ceased and the strong grip on his shoulder released him; he collapsed to the ground. 

Not Max crouched down and grabbed him by the collar, pulling Balthazar into a passionate kiss, a mockery of the one he and his husband had shared earlier. It pulled away, Balthazar’s blood on its lips. Even though the debilitating pain, his stomach revolted at the sight. Unable to move, he gripped the side of his coat in rage, vaguely aware of paper crumpling under his fingers

“Have fun dying in the gutter. Hope this mewling human’s life was worth it.” Not Max reached in Balthazar’s pants pocket, taking out his wallet. It pulled out the money inside and tossed the empty wallet on the ground next to him. Balthazar’s sluggish mind reluctantly admired the thing’s attention to detail. No one would suspect foul play now.

He would just be another robbery gone wrong.

The thing in Max blew him a kiss and walked away, the packet of papers in its hand while Balthazar slumped on the sidewalk. His vision started to become blurry and his arms could barely move as he tried to reach into the other pocket of his jacket. It seemed that the end of the line had come. If he was lucky, the thing would keep its promise and Max would be safe but there was one last thing he needed to do to his part in ensuring Max’s future safety. 

He just prayed that he had enough energy to do it before the end came for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *peeks out from behind computer screen*  
> FMA fans will have seen this coming but I still feel awful about it; I love Balthazar. :(   
> I also hope I did my take on the Hughes scene justice instead of making it overly dramatic and cheesy. 
> 
> And just a heads up guys, next week will see the end of my prewritten chapters :,( The chapter after that has been started but it's looking like it's going to be a whopper so at least when I do get it finished, I hope it'll be worth the wait.


	9. Friends and Lovers

It turned out that their newest case did take them north...extremely north. North to the point that they’d had to hit up a secondhand shop halfway to Rauchsburg to get some heavy clothes and coats.

Jimmy was not pleased.

“Remind me to smack Balthazar in the face the next time we’re in the capital,” Jimmy said, wrapping his arms around his torso and shivering. Another one of the multitude of downsides to military transports was they weren’t insulated very well. “I’m going to need a lot of Max’s food to make up for this injustice.”

Cas sighed from his left and Jimmy knew he was rolling his eyes. “It’s not Balthazar’s fault we’re here, Jimmy,” he said. He sounded distracted, probably by the folder in his lap. “He only found the disappearances. He didn’t cause them.”

This irritatingly rational argument did nothing to take the edge off Jimmy’s bad mood and neither did the blast of cold air that shot through the car as someone entered. Jimmy scowled. “Thanks for the fresh air, Dean,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I was getting a bit hot there, thankfully you put a stop to that.”

Instead of being angry at being snapped at, Dean only laughed. “Wow, you’re a grumpy bastard when you’re cold, aren’t you?”

Jimmy shifted further into his seat. “You’d be grumpy too if all your important bits were freezing off,” he grumbled, so fed up with the weather up north already that he didn’t even care that he was talking about his junk with Dean. “I’m very fond of those bits.”

There was a strange silence that Jimmy interpreted as awkwardness but before he could apologize or try to redirect the conversation, Dean laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty fond of them too.”

For a brief moment, Jimmy’s heart stopped as he thought Dean was talking about his, Jimmy’s, dick but then he calmed down as he realized Dean was obviously talking about his own. Scoffing to cover his weird moment, Jimmy smirked. “I would be worried if I were you, small things tend to freeze faster you know,” he said, not entirely sure where this stupidly bold teasing was coming from. He really ought to stop.

“Dick,” Dean grunted, smacking Jimmy in the arm. His tone was gruff but his body language was playful.

“Yes, Dean. We are talking about dicks,” Jimmy continued, unable to stop the flirtatious teasing now that he let the wall down. “Dicks and how the tiny ones will freeze making some people sad.” Jimmy even went as far as to fake cough “Dean” after the word people.

Before Dean could retaliate, Cas cleared his throat. “If you two are done discussing penises, we need to go over the case; we’ll be arriving in Rauchsburg soon,” he said in his stern teacher voice. Jimmy opened his mouth to complain but Cas cut him off. “The faster we get this one solved, the faster we can get out of the cold.”

“That doesn’t stop me from being cold now,” Jimmy grumbled, more than slightly put out that Cas wasn’t amused by his antics. 

“Well, maybe this’ll help,” Dean said, pulling a blanket from the overhead rack. He then proceeded to sit pressed tight against Jimmy’s right side, pushing Jimmy into Cas on his other side, and tossing the blanket over all their laps. “There,” Dean continued with a satisfied tone, “this should warm us all up.”

_Well no shit this was going to warm me up_ , Jimmy thought as he fought valiantly to keep from blushing. With the way he was slouched down in the seat, his face was actually on level with Dean’s armpit once he wrapped an arm around him so Jimmy hoped that Dean wouldn’t be able to really see if he did flush a bit.

In an effort to distract from anything that might give away that fact that his stomach was fluttering as the heat from Dean’s body seeped into him, Jimmy asked Cas to fill him in on the details of the case. 

“Yeah, what are we on the lookout for now, Cas?” Dean asked brightly, throwing a huge wrench into Jimmy’s plan by scooting closer to Jimmy, probably in an effort to peer over his shoulder at the folder Cas held.

Jimmy could feel the disapproval dripping off Cas at Dean’s use of the word “we” and snorted. Cas may have finally moved on from the disaster in Minneanna and admitted that Dean had been an enormous help during the aftermath but Jimmy knew that Cas was still miles and miles away from letting Dean actually participate in an active case.

“‘We’ won’t be looking for anything,” Cas reminded Dean pointedly but with a tone of kindness instead of one of annoyance. “Jimmy and I will and honestly, I have no idea what we are looking for.”

Apparently the only information Balthazar had been able to provide about the case was the fact that people, far too many to be a coincidence, had been disappearing from Rauchsburg for months. The interesting thing that he’d found was that disappearances had been minor for such a large city, a few people a month, until about two months ago when people started going missing at a rate of several people per week. Not even instituting a curfew and adding a stronger military presence in the city seemed to stem the tide.

Dean, either ignoring the jab or deciding the argument wasn’t worth the trouble, hummed thoughtfully. “So no weird alchemists signals or anything?”

Cas started speaking, telling Dean that there was really no way to tell if the disappearances were related to alchemy or not but Jimmy had already clocked out of the conversation. He already knew all of that of course but the main reason for his lapse in attention was the hand on his shoulder and the ghosting of Dean’s warm breath over his own chilled cheek. 

Jimmy supposed he should be thanking the bitter cold since it had not only blessed him with his current seating arrangement but the stupidly frigid temperature was helping keep any...issues at bay. An extremely good thing to since Dean was propping his hand on Jimmy’s thigh for balance as he talked to Cas and it brought said hand nerve-wrackingly close to his dick. True, this was all over the thick blanket but Jimmy was only human and just the idea of Dean’s hand being that close had him tingling slightly. It also didn’t help that with Mother Hen Dean around, he and Cas hadn’t had any alone time since that shower in Minneanna.

Taking as discrete breath to try and calm down, Jimmy settled back and pretended to listen. Eventually the rocking motion of the train car paired with the warmth of Dean and Cas’ bodies on either side of him and the hum of their voices lulled him to sleep. 

If he dreamed of being in the middle of a comfy bed with two pairs of strong arms draped over his chest, then that was his business.

 

Waking up was not nearly as awkward as Jimmy had been anticipating.

His neck and back were as stiff as a motherfucker and his ass was numb but he’d managed not to do anything embarrassing which was a major plus. There was the unfortunate fact that it was somehow even fucking colder than when he’d fallen asleep but he grudgingly kept his mouth shut; it wasn’t as if Cas or Dean had any control over the weather. He decided he could be a big boy about the unnaturally cold temperatures for a while.

This resolve did not last once they actually started walking around outside. 

They had been walking down the sidewalk towards the hotel a station attendant had recommended when the area surrounding the connection ports on his automail started to ache. At first Jimmy had written it off, those areas tended to get achy in the cold back home too, but one of the twinges actually hurt so bad he hissed in pain. 

Insistent hands grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him from moving. This was confusing enough but then to Jimmy’s shock, a pair of warm fingers dipped under the waistband of his pants.

“Dean! What the fu--?!”

“Can you feel my fingers,” Dean asked, his tone focused and alert.

Mechanic mode, Jimmy noted.

“Uh, um...no,” Jimmy said shakily. Now that Dean mentioned it, and bought him out of the daze induced by having Dean’s hand _down his pants_ , the area around his leg’s connection port was pretty damn near numb.

Shit. That couldn’t be good.

Caught up in wondering how he missed this huge fact, Jimmy missed Dean pulling away but was brought back by a startled shriek. Cas must be getting a similar treatment.

“Fuck, we need to stop at supply shop,” Dean said as he pulled his gloves back on and began ushering them down the street. Jimmy could see his body tense with worry as his head swiveled back and forth searchingly. “I need to insulate your automail for this cold.” He made an excited noise. “Bingo! Come on.”

 

Over the next two hours, Jimmy and Cas were forced to strip down in the middle of Rauchsburg’s small automail store and allow a pushy Dean to perform some last minute maintenance. It seemed that their automail was starting to cause frostbite in the areas of the twins’ skin where the ports connected; left unchecked, it could cause major damage to their bodies and their automail prosthetics. 

While it was an uncomfortable process, Jimmy really didn’t mind since it was necessary. It also was making Dean feel better; he’d been muttering angrily to himself as he worked on their automail about how stupid he’d been not to take precautions. Any arguments they’d tried to make that they should have known better too were shot down so the twins quickly adopted a dutiful silence.

No, the part that was not pleasant was the stares.

“Wow! That is some gorgeous work!”

“How did you get the joints to move so smooth?”

“Can we take a closer look at those legs?”

Apparently the automail enthusiasts of Rauchsburg were _extremely_ enthralled with Dean’s work. 

The surprising thing was that Dean didn’t seem pleased to have an audience. Automail was more than a job and hobby to him; he lived and breathed it. Dean’s passion for mechanics was one of the things the twins loved about him and one of the things they liked to tease him about. Usually Dean was extremely excited to show off his work since he put so much time into it. 

Jimmy couldn’t count how many times he and Cas had stopped home for maintenance only to be turned into a show and tell project for an interested party who’d stopped to see an example of Dean’s work.

But this time didn’t fall into that category.

“Is it just me or does Dean seem like he wants to punch these guys in the face,” Jimmy muttered to Cas one rare moment they were alone. Dean had left to rummage for some part and the gang of automail mechanics had followed. “I mean, maybe I’m wrong but his body language is super tense.”

Cas nodded, his hair brushing against Jimmy’s with how close they were. “Yes, he is definitely annoyed,” he replied in a hushed tone. “His forehead is creased like when he can’t find the tool he wants and he keeps frowning.”

Oh yeah, Dean was not happy.

“He’s probably pissed that he has an audience to his “failure,”” Jimmy said, going to give the air quotes sign but realizing it would be stupid to do so since his arm was currently sitting on the bench. “I told him we’re fine but knowing that blockhead, he’s going to brood on it for days.”

He heard Cas take a breath, probably to say something in response but before he could, Dean came back; his pack of followers at his heels. 

 

It was a massive relief to be able to put his clothes back on.

“God, I never realized how much I loved pants,” Jimmy sighed as he wriggled back into said garment in the relatively private closet at the back of the automail store. “And shirts, shirts are nice too.”

“I agree,” Cas said, voice muffled as he pulled on his shirt. “I was not a fan of being exposed like that.”

Jimmy nodded. Yeah, that had been unpleasant. 

When Dean had first ordered them to strip so he could work, Jimmy honestly hadn’t felt anything besides the usual bashfulness of being half naked in front of Dean. They had been running around in their underwear in semi-public for years now so he’d thought nothing of it but then the other mechanics had shown up. It turned out that Jimmy wasn’t nearly as comfortable in front of those mechanics; in fact, he was pretty damn uncomfortable.

It seemed he, and Cas apparently, only liked being half naked in front of Dean.

Once they were fully clothed and feeling better, Jimmy asked what was next.

“I think it would be best for us to go to our hotel room, check in and get settled,” Cas said, walking over to open the door. They headed toward the front of the shop to where Dean was paying for the parts he’d used and the tools he’d borrowed. Jimmy noted that the mechanics were still crowded around him like excited children but that Dean seemed a little less annoyed by them. 

“We can stop by a grocery store and pick some food up too,” Cas continued as they closed in on the register. 

Dean turned away from the shop owner and heaved a sigh. “Food? You’re speaking my language, Cas,” he said tiredly but with the first hint of cheer that Jimmy had seen in the past few hours. “I’m starving.”

With a plan in place, as well as directions to the local market, the three of them trudged out into the bitter cold; a chorus of pleas for Dean to come back to visit echoed behind them as they walked out into the snow and wind. None of them spoke as Cas led the way to the store, it was too cold to be exposing their faces.

“You guys better get inside before the Lady gets you!”

Startled, Jimmy looked over to see a small figure standing in the front yard of a house they were walking past. “Uh, sure...thanks for the warning kid,” he said hesitantly, not entirely sure how to respond to this warning. The other two hadn’t heard and continued to press on. “I’m gonna go now.”

“I’m serious,” the kid, who had to be about eight or nine going by their size and voice, shot back. He scurried long, trying to keep up with Jimmy’s longer strides. “It’s almost dark, if she catches you out at night...she’ll take you away.”

_Okay...this is definitely weird_ , Jimmy thought to himself. He paused in walking. “What does the Lady do to you if she gets you,” he asked, curious about this local boogeyman. 

“Oh, she sneaks up on you and takes you away to her house in the woods and eats you,” the kid replied eagerly. He was obviously happy to share the gruesome details. “And she’s hard to see ‘cause she’s dressed all in black and you can’t run away because she can disappear just like that!” 

To emphasize his point, the kid clapped together; the sound muffled by his mittens. Jimmy was going to ask why this Lady person was taking people when a woman called out, telling her kid to get inside. Not wanting to risk being labelled a creeper, Jimmy hurried to catch up to the others but not before mentally filing away this information.

Something about it seemed important but his mind couldn’t quite grasp it yet.

 

“Where were you,” Dean asked, hearing Jimmy suddenly appear behind him. He’d noticed Jimmy fall back earlier but in an effort to not ‘mother hen’ hadn’t said anything though he did hang back at the door to the store to wait for him.

Jimmy tilted his head back down the street. “Had a little kid telling me to get my ass moving,” he said lightly, “there’s a boogeyman in these parts. Not that we didn’t already know that. It was kinda creepy though.”

“Ugh, creepy kids,” Dean shuddered, pushing the door open to let Jimmy in first. “No one needs that shit. Let’s get inside.”

As Jimmy walked past him, Dean watched his gait closely; he’d done to same to Cas earlier. He needed to keep a better eye on their automail. They definitely did _not_ need a repeat of this afternoon. 

Having to admit he made a mistake concerning the twins’ automail was bad enough but then there were those damn vultures at the automail shop. Dean hadn’t really thought anything of having Cas and Jimmy stripping down in the shop’s small work area. He’d worked on their automail in front of Bobby and Bobby’s friends before so it didn’t seem like a big deal.

And then the other mechanics had come over and Dean quickly realized he hadn’t cared in the past because Bobby and Bobby’s friends were old. Those new mechanics were younger, closer to Dean’s age.

Closer to Cas and Jimmy’s age.

He’d become hyper aware of the fact that all of Cas and Jimmy’s muscled bodies had been on display while he’d worked. Those--those strange mechanics had been looking at Cas and Jimmy. Dean knew that he didn’t have any right to think like that but he felt protective---no, that wasn’t it.

He was jealous and he had no right to be. Cas and Jimmy weren’t his to be jealous over. They didn’t belong to him, they weren’t his boyfriends. He pointedly ignored the other thing he’d noticed that reinforced the idea that he had no right to claim the twins as his.

He tried not to dwell on that thing very much.

“Dean, do you want these kinds of chips or these,” Cas asked, holding up two bags of snacks. Jimmy was standing next to him with the basket looking as if he wanted to be doing anything else. 

Shaking off his annoying completely not jealous thoughts, Dean walked over to help pick out the food.

 

Dean’s mood lightened after a bit of time spent snack shopping with the twins. It was hard not to cheer up after listening to Cas and Jimmy bicker over what snacks were the best. They managed to grab a nice supply of food in a short amount of time and Dean followed Cas to the register while Jimmy elected to wander aimlessly around the store.

“This everything then,” the shopkeeper asked, grabbing the items and entering them into the register. Dean squinted curiously as he noticed the guy’s movements were a bit jerky, like he were anxious. Cas didn’t seem to see this and nodded, smiling politely.

“Yes, that’s everything,” he said as he placed the last of the items on the counter only for the shopkeeper to almost immediately grab them. He chuckled quietly. “Wow, you’re very fast.”

The shopkeeper actually scowled and grunted. “Well, it’s almost closing time. I want to get out of here and back home as soon as possible.”

Cas smiled and nodded. “I can understand that. I know I wouldn’t want to miss the curfew,” he said pleasantly as the shopkeeper shoved all their food into a bag. Cas paused for a second before laughing lightly again. “The lady in black might get me if I do.”

It was obviously a lighthearted joke. That Dean was completely certain of. He’d been around Cas long enough to know when the guy was making a joke but obviously the shopkeeper thought differently.

The bag of food was shoved so roughly at Dean that he had to scramble to grab it before it plummeted to the floor. His mouth wrenched open to ask the guy what the hell was wrong with him but he stopped when he saw the raw anger on the shopkeeper’s face. A spark of protectiveness flared up as he realized the rage was directed at a shellshocked Cas.

“Don’t joke about things you don’t understand, stranger,” he growled, snatching their money out of Cas’ hand. He slammed the register open and practically threw the change at Cas. “Now, kindly leave my store.”

At this point, Dean was livid. What the hell was this guy’s problem? Cas had just made a joke about a kid’s boogeyman; that was no reason to treat him like that. He raised a finger and was poised to give the asshole a piece of his mind when a firm hand on his arm stopped him. 

Cas shut him down with a shake of his head. He turned to the shopkeeper. “Of course, my apologies,” Cas said, calmly but with an edge that Dean rarely saw to him. His normally pleasant demeanor was gone and a hardened expression took its place. It was Cas’ soldier face. “I wasn’t aware I’d made a social faux paux. Have a nice evening.”

Dean couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride at the overly implied ‘fuck you’ in Cas’ voice.

They strode away from the register to where Jimmy was standing at the end of an aisle. To the casual observer, Jimmy looked like he was pretending to peruse something on the shelf in front of him but Dean could see the tension in his body. His head turned their way as they approached and he nodded back towards the register. 

“Do we have an issue,” Jimmy said casually though the way his hands twitched at his side told Dean that he felt anything but.

Cas shook his head and walked out of the store, Dean and Jimmy trailing behind him. Once they were back out into the cold, Cas stopped and looked back. His brow was furrowed in concentration and Dean could practically feel the wheels turning under that mop of messy hair.

Jimmy walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “What is it, Cas?”

There was a moment of silence where the only sound was the whistle of the wind. Snowflakes fell down slowly and the sensation of them falling on Dean’s skin made him shiver. 

“I think I might have an idea of what’s going on here,” Cas said finally said simply.

He turned and began to walk away. Jimmy and Dean rushed to catch up again but this time Cas didn’t say anything; he just continued walking, leaving them to trail behind him.

 

“Sir, it’s time to go.”

Crowley looked up from the pile of paper in front of him to see Lt. Shields standing in the doorway to his temporary office. He gazed back down at the reports and signed the bottom of the one at the top before adding to the others. There was a massive pile on one side of his desk that hadn’t been there a few hours ago but that was to be expected.

He knew he tended to fall into his work when things were bad.

“Yes, you’re right,” Crowley said, putting the cap back on his pen. He stood up and strode over to where Hannah held out his jacket. It was the somber black one. Ignoring the implication of the coat, he slipped it on and briskly walked out of the room. “Come along, Shields.”

They took a car to the cemetery in silence. Hannah, probably sensing his intense desire to not talk, sat on her side of the backseat and stared dutifully ahead. Crowley chose to look out the window, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the fact he was on his way to his best friend’s funeral.

Balthazar had been found dead in the street in the early hours of the morning two days ago. According to the report, he’d been stabbed multiple times in the stomach. The working theory was that it was a mugging as all the cash in his wallet was missing and he’d been in a less than reputable part of town but Crowley found this explanation lacking. In fact, the military’s report had given him even more questions.

Why had Balthazar been out at that time of night? There was absolutely no reason for him to be on the street that late; he should have been at home, tucked into bed for the night.

What was the significance of the street he’d been found on? Following the thought process of the first question, there must have been some reason that Balthazar had left the safety of his home. He must have been doing something important, something that couldn’t wait until the next day.

And finally, and most importantly, who had murdered him? This was the most intriguing of all. While Balthazar had decided to pursue a career as an intelligence officer which basically amounted to a desk job, Crowley knew for an unarguable fact that Balthazar was highly trained and highly skilled in combat. It would take much much more than a common street thug with a knife to kill him. 

Something was very wrong with this whole situation but Crowley couldn’t seem to figure out what it was.

“We’re here, sir.”

Hannah’s voice broke through his thoughts and Crowley blinked, finally registering that the car had stopped. She was standing outside the car now, holding his door open; her expression was filled with worry and sympathy and in no way made him feel any better.

That look probably wouldn’t be there if she hadn’t walked in on him getting completely and utterly drunk during their trip from the eastern province. In his defense, he had just learned that his oldest friend had been found dead in an alley like garbage; Crowley felt he was entitled to get mind bendingly drunk.

Lt. Shields hadn’t judged him exactly but she had taken the bottle and ushered him off to his uncomfortable bunk on the train. Ever since he’d noticed her being more watchful.

And at the moment, Crowley did not appreciate being treated like glass.

The service was lovely, at least Crowley supposed it was; he wasn’t one for flowery words and over emotional displays. Most of the people in attendance were military personnel, only there to make an appearance. None of them really cared beyond the fact that a fellow soldier was killed. The only person at the funeral that he was actually concerned about was Balthazar’s husband Max. 

He’d met the man more than a few times and God knew he’d heard story after story about him from Balthazar. It truly pained him to see how the normally bright man had been turned into a hollow shell. Crowley observed him at his seat next to the coffin draped with nation’s flag; he looked as if one good nudge would knock him over. 

“If there’s anything I can do, please contact my office,” Crowley said quietly to Max’s sister Alicia. The service had ended and Max was currently being subjected to condolence after condolence from the attendees. Seeing Max’s state, he determined it would be best to offer his assistance to her to pass on when he was feeling better established. “Balthazar was---a very good friend and if I can be of any assistance in any way, I would gladly be of service.”

Alicia nodded, her eyes were still a bit damp from the funeral. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I’ll be sure to let Max know.” She paused and glanced over to where Max was currently shaking hands with one of the officers in attendance. Though shaking hands was a slight overstatement; it was more like the major was moving Max’s limp arm up and down while Max stared blankly at him. “But it might have to wait for a bit. Max has been---well, he’s been practically comatose since it happened; I don’t think he’s really processing anything at the moment.”

Crowley and Hannah both made noises of understanding. “Of course that’s to be expected,” Crowley said with a nod. “I didn’t have the opportunity to see them together since I was transferred to the eastern province but even on the few occasions I did, it was plain to see how much they cared for each other.” A flash of something besides exhaustion and grief flashed over Alicia’s face as Crowley saw her eyes dart towards her brother again. It set off a strange feeling in Crowley’s gut. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Her eyes shot to his and Crowley could see a hint of fear in them. His brow furrowed; what did she have to be afraid of?

She spared another look at Max before taking another towards Crowley and Hannah, lowering her voice. “I know that this is most likely the grief talking but,” she said quietly, pausing to spare a look at Max before turning back, “I feel like Balthazar’s death may have damaged his mind.”

“What makes you say that,” Hannah piped up, keeping her voice level low. She looked over at Max curiously. “He appears to be acting normal, at least as normal as someone who’s just lost their husband would be acting.”

Alicia seemed to ponder her answer, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth until she sighed tiredly. Looking over to where the line of funeral goers waiting to talk to Max was still substantial, she turned back to them and beckoned them away from the gravesite and off to one side and began to talk.

Max had been acting strange for days. She’d been expecting some strange mood patterns, her brother was dealing with a massive loss after all, but there were some things that had her frightened; the main worry being the night terrors. Alicia had specified that they weren’t ordinary nightmares as she said that Max would wake up, screeching and sobbing in terror from any form of sleep, even afternoon naps. 

Apparently Max was dreaming of Balthazar’s murder and would wake up screaming at someone to “Stop! Please, stop!” This had seemed like a reasonable reaction but then one day she’d heard him shouting, “Don’t make me, please don’t make me do it.” After this incident, Alicia had started keeping a closer eye on her brother and noticed a few other things. 

For instance, having grown up with him, Alicia knew for a fact that Max was very tactile when grieving. When their mother had died when they were young, he’d clung to Alicia for days while she’d taken care of everything and she’d expected that to happen now. Only, instead of accepting her comfort as was to be expected, Max was stand offish to the point of skittish. Any time she tried to initiate contact, Max would actively avoid touching her and, a few notable occasions, had reacted almost violently to her touching him.

“I was actually scared,” she admitted after recounting an incident from the day before when Max had pushed her hard enough that she fell because she tried to hug him. “The strange thing is he looked scared too and he kept muttering something about not hurting anyone.”

Crowley rubbed at his chin, processing this information. Whatever was going on was deeply troubling. He had Hannah give her their contact information for the duration of their stay in the capital as well as where they could be reached back at Eastern command; while they were talking, Crowley wandered off to one side to give himself a chance to process this new information.

He’d suspected something already but this, this confirmed his suspicions. 

Obviously, Max must have witnessed something. Maybe it wasn’t much but it had been enough to affect him deeply and whatever it was, it was something that had scared him enough that he didn’t report it to the authorities. 

_Perhaps someone had threatened him,_ Crowley mused as he wandered aimlessly, not straying too far away from the two women. _It would have to be someone of considerable influence and someone close to the case._

That only left one option. It must be someone either in the military or closely tied to it. 

This of course wasn’t too much of a revelation. He knew that there was corruption in the military, it wasn’t a well kept secret. Officers, excluding him of course, were constantly getting caught up in one scandal or another but those were usually harmless; a misappropriation of supplies here or a slight abuse of power there, the usual backlog of nonsense that arises in a large organization such as this.

_This definitely bears looking into_ , he decided, his eyes travelling over the remaining funeral goers who were still talking to an even more fragile looking Max. _It will have to be quiet though, don’t want to stir anything up in the muck by acci---_ Crowley’s train of thought disappeared as his eyes focused on something he’d seen but not really noticed. 

Two women standing on the outskirts of the cemetery. 

They hadn’t been at the ceremony. Crowley was sure of that, even at this distance. He couldn’t see much but it was plain as the nose on his face that they weren’t there to visit another grave; they were watching the funeral gathering closely. By his estimate, they would be short and even though they were partially in shadow, Crowley could tell they had dark hair. Short women with dark hair…

“Lieutenant,” Crowley said softly, hearing Hannah’s precise steps approach. “I’d like for you to look into what you can find on those two women over there.” He nodded carefully towards the path where the woman were walking, their faces only just visible now that they were in the light but he saw enough to confirm his suspicions. He needed more information to be sure. His eyes followed them until they disappeared from sight, a slight feeling of resigned dread creeping up his spine. “Keep your inquiries quiet and be cautious, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

Dean stepped out of the shower, rubbing a towel over his head, to find the hotel room in utter chaos. 

After their trip to the store, they’d managed to find a hotel and get a room. Dean had tried to look appropriately put out when they’d only been able to land a king sized bed again but did point out that being together in one bed would help combat the bitter cold that permeated the room even when the heater was on full blast. 

Cas had been so preoccupied with whatever revelation he’d had at the grocery store that he hadn’t even flinched when the hotel manager told them it was a single king or nothing while Jimmy seemed just as distracted by his brother’s strange behavior. Feeling awkward in the silence of the room as Cas became laser focused on his notes as soon as they’d settled in the room, Dean had announced he was taking a shower.

Thankfully the water was entirely too cold for Dean to even entertain the thought of jerking off, a small blessing he supposed. It had been getting harder and harder (and wasn’t that the truth) for him to resist the urge to help himself along without thinking about Cas and Jimmy and with today’s bout of possessiveness lurking just below the surface, Dean wasn’t sure if he would have been able to resist this time. 

_I really need to get this under control_ , he thought to himself as he walked over to put his dirty clothes in his bag. _I can’t keep creeping on my best friends, it’s not right._

Especially now that he had the _idea_ creeping around in his brain. 

Shaking his head to clear it and noticing just how freaking cold the room was, Dean didn’t waste any time scurrying over to the bed and crawling underneath. He cursed under his breath as he realized the sheets were cold too.

“Yeah, this whole ‘everything is icy cold’ shit is going to get old real fast,” he grumbled, shimmying around under the blankets in a hope to warm them up.

Jimmy turned to face him from the table where he was sitting with Cas; there were books and papers everywhere and Cas’ nose was currently buried in a notebook. “I completely agree with that sentiment,” Jimmy said, face scrunched up with annoyance. There was a pause right before he stood up and walked towards the bed; the twins had already changed into their sleep clothes and Jimmy looked pleasantly rumpled. “Scootch over, Dean. Might as well start getting the bed warmed up.”

God, how Dean wished he meant something other than the sheets.

It wasn’t until Jimmy was settled in on his side that Dean noticed Cas hadn’t moved. In fact, it looked like he hadn’t twitched since Dean had come out of the bathroom.

“Come on, Cas,” Jimmy said tiredly, only his head peeking out from under the covers. “It’s been a long ass day, get over here and get ready for bed. You’ll think better with a good night’s sleep.” Cas glanced up and managed to make a slight noise right before Jimmy continued. “Nope, no ‘one more minute’; you need sleep.” 

Cas grumbled and closed his notebook with a thud. Dean watched as he shuffled over to the bed and crawled in on the other side of him. The mattress dipped and shook as Cas moved to get comfortable after he switched off the light. Cas’ cool feet brushed against his own as he shifted and Dean shivered but didn’t protest, not once the added body heat started to seep over and envelope him. 

Dean hadn’t quite adjusted to sleeping between the objects of his affections but he had progressed to the point where he could get past the inappropriate thoughts and just enjoy it. It was actually pretty nice, getting to have the twins there. Dean supposed that this newfound enjoyment was part of the reason that he found it so easy to sleep at night which is why it took no time at all for him to fall asleep with the low sounds of Jimmy and Cas’ breathing on either side of him.

An unknown amount of time later, the bed shifting woke him.

Still entangled in the cobwebs of sleep, Dean barely twitched but his eyes cracked open. He could vaguely tell it hadn’t been too long since he’d fallen asleep since the room was still fairly dark. His mind foggily supplied that one of the twins must have shifted in their sleep and he began to drift off again when he heard the whispers.

“--I know it’s hard but we’ll figure it out.”

“I know, Jimmy. I’m just frustrated and been distracted. People are dying and I can’t figure it out.”

The soft tones immediately told Dean that this was a two person conversation so he went limp and kept his breathing even in an attempt to look like he was sleeping. There was another shifting of the mattress and he couldn’t help but crack his eyes to see what was going on; Cas and Jimmy were sitting up partially, leaning close to whisper over him.

“Hey, everything will be alright,” Jimmy said, reaching out to pat Cas’ shoulder before, to Dean’s surprise, cupping his cheek cheek. “You’ll crack this thing wide open and we’ll take out the bastard behind it so don’t worry, okay?”

Cas nodded, pressing his face into Jimmy’s hand. “Okay.”

The next moment would forever be burned into Dean’s retinas.

The memory of Jimmy leaning forward to press a soft kiss to Cas’ mouth would always stay with Dean; not in a sexual way despite what an outsider would think considering his feelings for the twins and not because it was truly a surprise. Dean had been slowly suspecting that there was more to Cas and Jimmy’s relationship than met the eye ever since he started living in close quarters with them. No, that image would stay with him because in that moment, he knew he would never be able to admit his feelings for either Cas or Jimmy.

They had each other, why would they need him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...you guys still mad at me for last week?  
> Hopefully this chapter was a bit better. I know there was some sad stuff but at least there was some fluffier things too. 
> 
> And also...this is officially the last prewritten chapter. (cue sad music) I'm working on the next chapter and, I think I mentioned this earlier but just in case, it's looking like it's going to be a big one - like 10k-ish words so it might be a bit before I post but it'll be a sizable chunk. I promise I'm going to work really hard so that you guys don't have to wait too long. :)


	10. Recall and Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Castiel’s dreams were, unsurprisingly, dark.

He flashed between a whole manner of horrible memories and terrible imagined situations. One minute he was in the basement of their childhood home with a bleeding Jimmy, watching that freakish terrifying thing crawl out of the tub and drag itself towards him, the next he was beating mercilessly at Charles Magnus’ face, feeling the bones crunch under his flesh hand while he gripped him overly tight by his automail one. Then he was watching as Magnus drained the life out of homeless people, tossing their lifeless bodies off to the side to join the rest in a massive pile as if they were garbage before he reached for Dean.

Over and over his mind tossed him around from nightmare scenario to nightmare scenario like he was a piece of paper in a tornado. Every one was worse than the last and in almost all of them Castiel was forced to watch as someone, almost exclusively Jimmy and Dean, was tortured and killed while he could only sit there helplessly. The next flash had him reliving that night in the warehouse. He was on his back, one of the women had him pinned and was punching him in the face while Jimmy received a similar treatment. The woman was grinning at him, her smile too big for her face and her eyes flashing bright red.

Bright red eyes.

Strong.

Enhanced.

Red eyes…

Castiel sat bolt upright in bed; his heart was pounding in his chest to the point that his head felt light, he was covered in sweat, and his limbs were shaky but that might have been left over adrenaline from the dreams. There was a beat where Castiel couldn’t remember what had woken him up when it hit him.

“Demons,” he said in a half whisper. His mind whirled as all the puzzle pieces snapped into place thanks to his unconscious mind supplying the missing part. He rubbed at his hair and grimaced. “They’re demons!”

There was a burst of movement as Jimmy, shortly followed by Dean, bolted upright. Dean looked around wildly, his hair mussed and on end, and his eyes open wide. 

“Wha---! Are we getting attacked or something,” Dean gasped, his hands flailing about as he looked around the room.

Castiel shook his head and leaped out of the bed, darting towards his duffle; there was a book he needed to check. “No, we’re not being attacked,” he answered distractedly as he dug through the bag. “I know what those women were.”

“Seriously?! That’s great,” Jimmy said, his voice filled with excitement. He climbed out of bed and walked over to clap Castiel on the shoulder. “Come on, don’t leave us in suspense.”

Hands trembling slightly, Castiel pulled the book out of his bag. The cover was faded and worn from decades of wear and tear but its normally comforting scent of old paper and ink didn’t calm him as it usually would have. 

He needed to be sure.

“Hold on, I want to double check something first,” he replied, opening the book he needed and immediately burying his nose in the pages. While most of him was ecstatic that he’d stumbled into a theory, a sizable portion of him hoped he was wrong; being right in this situation would not be a good thing. His eyes scanned the pages, looking for the paragraph he’d glanced at several times during his time researching for the Magnus case. It was only a small blurb but…

There.

Castiel’s mouth went dry as he read the words. Holy shit...this was not good.

He sat there for a time, rereading that paragraph over and over. Part of him wished that he was hallucinating what was before him but each time; Castiel even went as far as to blink very deliberately in hopes that they would change but sadly, the words were still there. He jumped when a hand settled on his shoulder.

“Cas,” Dean said carefully, eyeing him like he was a caged animal that might attack him. “You’ve been sitting there for like fifteen minutes and it’s sort of freaking us out.”

Blinking to clear the words from his eyes, Castiel finally noticed the lines of worry on Dean’s face and turning towards Jimmy showed that his twin was in the same frame of mind. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, closing the book. Castiel didn’t need it anymore since he’d more than likely memorized the small paragraph at this point. 

Jimmy sank down to sit next to him on the floor. He reached forward and gripped him by the shoulder, his brows furrowed in worry. “What is it, Cas?”

Taking a deep breath, Castiel did; Jimmy froze then cursed.

 

Demons were supposed to be an alchemical fairy tale. Well, more like a cautionary tale than a fairy tale.

The story changed from text to text but the basics were the same; Castiel had always wondered if this tendency towards similarity meant that there was some truth to them. As he stared at the book and ran over the information from their encounter with the mysterious women, Castiel realized he now had his answer.

Even if he wished it wasn’t the one he had.

 

“I don’t get it,” Dean said. He was seated on the edge of the bed with his arms crossed and a confused look on his face. “You’ve been obsessing over figuring out what those women are for days and now you found the answer, why do you look like someone died?”

“Because someone did,” Jimmy said, shifting into a more comfortable position on the floor. He patted the book before Castiel felt him discreetly slide his flesh hand closer so he could wrap his warm fingers around Castiel’s ankle. The touch grounded him so he could focus. “A lot of someones actually.”

Dean huffed an annoyed breath through his nose and leveled an exasperated look at the two of them. “Well that’s nice and vague. Mind filling in the details for those of those who haven’t been studying alchemy for years?”

“The women who took Magnus were demons,” Castiel said, regaining his train of thought. Picking up the book again, he opened to the dreaded page and held out the book.. Dean grabbed the blankets off the bed and threw them at him and Jimmy, keeping one for himself, before taking the book. It wasn’t until then that Castiel realized he was shivering though whether it was due to the icy chill of the room or to what he’d just learned remained in question. He gave Dean a chance to read the paragraph before explaining.

 

Demons were creatures created by alchemy that essentially had no form except the ones they took on. During their creation they were tied to a specific body but they were able to leave that body for extended periods of time in order to inhabit another. They did have to return to their original form periodically to keep it, and themselves, from deteriorating. While it wasn’t explicitly stated in any of the texts that demons were evil creatures, it was heavily implied which made complete sense to Castiel.

Anything created from blood magic had to be.

“So, these two women are evil monster things that look human but aren’t and can, like, ooze out of their bodies and take over someone else’s,” Dean asked after Castiel’s explanation. He was looking down at the artistic rendering of a demon on the page and frowning. “That’s some crazy shit.”

Jimmy chuckled ruefully; he had moved to press against Castiel’s side while he’d been talking and Castiel leaned into the comforting pressure at his side. “That it is, Dean. That it is.”

“Wait, you said a lot of someones had died, how does that work into all of this,” Dean asked, brows furrowed as he tried to work through all the information they were dumping on him. He glanced up at them, face full of confusion. “Do these demon things kill a lot of people or something?”

“Well, from what we saw in the warehouse, I’m guessing that might be the case but I was talking about something else,” Jimmy said, fidgeting with the blankets. Castiel felt a hand creep into his lap to rest covertly on his thigh under the blanket. “See, the thing about demons is, they’re created with blood magic and blood magic is the nastiest form of alchemy there is.”

Castiel shuddered at the thought of blood magic while Dean looked apprehensive. He closed the book gingerly and frowned. “I’m guessing blood magic involves...uh, blood?”

“Yes, it does,” Castiel sighed, starting to wish he hadn’t had his realization. He’d much rather be back in bed, curled under the covers with Dean’s warmth next to him instead of talking about this gruesome subject. “Any transmutation that is performed using this branch of alchemy requires blood sacrifices in order to power the matrix and the bigger the transmutation, the more blood that is required.”

Dean grimaced at this information. “So, what, Magnus killed a whole bunch of people to make some superpowered evil bodyguards?”

Humming thoughtfully, Castiel considered this theory but ultimately shook his head. “No, I’m fairly certain Magnus didn’t create these demons,” he said, mentally sorting through everything he knew about Magnus and what little he remembered about that night in the warehouse. “They didn’t seem very friendly towards him at all. Demons tend to serve the one who made them in a semi-grateful capacity at the very least and some are said to be fiercely loyal to their creators.” 

His mind flashed back to the looks of ominous intent the demons had been giving Magnus; they had been planning a lot of nasty things for him, that Castiel was sure of.

“That and the fact that performing blood magic seems really out of Magnus’ league,” Jimmy offered. He tilted his head thoughtfully. “I mean, I know he had the skills to make philosopher stones, and he definitely wasn’t squeamish about spilling all that blood for them, but even that’s child’s play compared to actual blood magic.”

“I guess that means you two have someone else to chase then,” Dean said. His face and voice were carefully neutral. It was obvious that he was disappointed with the fact that Castiel’s revelation wasn’t actually going to help them close the case. 

Castiel chuckled humorlessly and snuggled down into the blanket, which happened to press him closer to Jimmy and allowed him to kick his feet into Dean’s lap, before nodding. “Unfortunately, yes,” he said. “I believe that brings us up to four mysteries we have to solve now.”

“We’ve got the case of the missing Magnus, the mysterious demon ladies,” Jimmy recited, counting off their rapidly growing caseload on his fingers, “this weird murdering lady in black, and some psycho who’s messing around with demons and blood magic…”

Jimmy may have continued to speak but a switch had flipped in Castiel’s brain and everything going on around him became fuzzy. His mind whirled as he mentally checked all the information to make sure he was correct even though he had a sneaking suspicion that he didn’t want to be right.

They had been adding all these recent developments onto their to do list as if they were all separate issues...but what if they weren’t?

That...that made an extraordinary amount of sense. 

Massive amounts of carnage.

_Fuck…_

_This--this couldn’t be happening. No alchemist alive could be that powerful._

Castiel’s mind raced, his mind making all of the connections he’d foolishly missed at once. What a stupid stupid little moron he was, too busy worrying about how he and Jimmy could hide their relationship from Dean and trying to keep their feelings for him under wraps to worry about crucial connections. His palms began to sweat as the full implications of what was _really_ going on sent his body into a spiral of flight or flight. 

_Not that fighting or fleeing could help you now,_ he thought, dread sitting heavily in his stomach. _We’d have an easier time walking out onto the front in nothing but our damn pajamas..._

Something tapped his shoulder and Castiel started, becoming aware that Jimmy and Dean were staring at him again. They looked worried.

“--Cas, are you alright,” Jimmy said, still shaking him lightly. Dean had moved from his place across from them and was sitting practically nose to nose with him, those green eyes studying him anxiously. “You’ve been sort of sitting here staring into space silently. It’s freaking us out...again,” he finished lamely.

Castiel shook his head, nausea starting to take over now that the shock was wearing off. “I suppose that depends on your definition of alright,” he said. He kicked the blanket off him and stood up, pacing seemed to help him think; movement was good. Moving felt as if he were _doing_ something. “I’m alright physically but I just realized something the most definitely does not help my mental state of okay.”

Jimmy grabbed him by the arm the next time he passed by and firmly pulled him to sit. Jimmy’s face was serious, an expression that didn’t help the pit of nerves in his stomach at all. His brother was hardly ever serious.

“Okay, I say again, you’re really freaking us out, Cas,” Jimmy said, gripping him by the shoulder. Normally the touch would ground him but nothing seemed to be helping. “If it’s the demons, we’ll figur--”

“Carnage and blood, Jimmy,” Castiel managed to say firmly, the fingers of his automail hand pressing hard into Jimmy’s cheek in a way he’d feel ashamed of later. He couldn’t help it though, he _needed_ Jimmy to understand but saying it out loud would make his realization entirely too real. “Almost every issue you just listed involve massive amount of bloodshed.”

Jimmy’s brows knit in confusion, followed by an expression of horror that probably matched his own. 

“Oh...oh fuck,” Jimmy said, his voice low and hollow. The hand on Castiel’s shoulder moved so Jimmy could run it through his hair. “That--that’s bad...holy shit is that bad.”

“Okay, now you’re both freaking me out,” Dean said. He was leaning towards them, his face slightly pale. “What do you mean about bloodshed?” He paused. “Not that I probably want to know.”

Jimmy grimaced. “Probably not, hell I kinda wish I was still the dark but the psycho cat is out of the bag now.”

Castiel patted Jimmy on the shoulder with a reassurance that he most certainly did not feel. “There’s still a chance I might be wrong but all the signs are pointing to someone, or more likely multiple someones considering the scale of things, gearing up for some powerful blood magic.”

God, he hoped he was completely wrong.

“But what does that mean,” Dean asked, brow furrowed in confusion. He waved at hand at the abandoned book on the floor. “I mean, you told me people can make those demon-chicks with that shit but is that all? Or is this guy going to be able to take over the world or something when he does--whatever he’s going to do?”

Castiel looked over at Jimmy to see he was facing him. Jimmy’s face was as blank, reflecting the lack of answers in Castiel’s own mind; Castiel turned back to Dean, sighing and shrugging his shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted grudgingly. “We only know the very basics about blood magic to begin with since all the reference materials on that subject are kept under extreme restrictions by the military and whoever is behind this knows a lot more about it.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands, “Though I’m going to guess that whatever the fucker is up to, it’s bad. You don’t transmute a new hospital for sick kids using blood magic. That shit is bad mojo.”

The room was quiet for a bit; each of them lost in their thoughts. Castiel’s brain was still trying to process his realization. A large part of him wanted to support the theory that he was still asleep and all of this was an extension of his horrible dreams but logic wouldn’t allow him to fall for that. The longer he thought on it, the more all the pieces fit together and the more resigned he became. 

“We’ll have to look into this,” Castiel said, standing up and walking over to his duffle bag. He pulled out a pair of uniform pants and a shirt, not bothering to make sure they were clean. “I have a theory this lady in black is actually one of our mysterious women from Minneanna but we’ll need to do some reconnesc---”

Castiel’s words were cut off by the hotel room’s phone ringing.

All three of them, nerves wound tight from their talk about Castiel’s discovery, jumped at the harsh sound echoing through the room. Dean reacted first and picked up the receiver.

“Hello,” he said hesitantly. Their room phone never rang so they were all on edge. “Yes, this is room 17.”

The conversation devolved into muffled tones from the phone and Dean’s short replies; by the time Dean thanked whoever was on the other end, Castiel and Jimmy were practically vibrating with nerves. This feeling didn’t improve when Dean frowned as he hung up the receiver.

“Well,” Jimmy blurted out when Dean didn’t say anything right away, “who was that?”

Dean swallowed, his brows furrowed in befuddlement. “That was the hotel manager. He got a call from a General Ramiel who told him to pass on a message.”

Castiel’s stomach swooped unpleasantly and he set down the clothes in his hands. It would have been one thing if Crowley had been the one to call the hotel, it probably just be either information on the case he’d found or a demand for a status report. If any other officer was calling, that was not only unheard of, it was very unsettling.

“What did the general want,” Castiel asked, his mind running through his catalogue of military personnel. There weren’t that many generals in the military and he knew he’d heard of Ramiel before but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what Ramiel was in charge of.

Though that may have something to do with his already distracted mind.

Looking back at the phone, Dean frowned at it before turning back to him and Jimmy. He looked as disturbed as Castiel felt. “He told the manager to inform Alchemists Novak and Novak to return to the capital on the double,” Dean said, reciting what was probably the word for word message the manager had passed on to him. “You’re required for an important public event.”

That was...not what Castiel had expected to hear.

“They want us for what?!”

Castiel looked over to see Jimmy gaping in Dean’s direction, his face managing to look surprised and annoyed at once with a touch of disgust. “They want us to stop our very important job of hunting down psychos for what, a fucking parade or some shit,” he continued, turning towards Castiel, “are they stupid?”

Jimmy did have a point. The type of work they did for the military was well recorded and was common knowledge. There were other alchemists with different focuses who did the usual meet and greets in order to bolster the public opinion of the civilians or to remind high command of alchemy’s usefulness. In all the years that he and Jimmy had been enlisted in the military, they had never been ordered to attend anything that could remotely qualify as a public event.

A strong urge to ignore the call washed over Castiel and he debated on whether it would be worth it to pretend they hadn’t heard about the call. In theory they could stay here in Rauchsburg and pursue the lady in black/demon women connection but eventually the military would note their absence. There were plenty of military garrisons stationed in the northern province; MPs could be dispatched to their location in a few hours. He and Jimmy would be clapped in cuffs before they tie up the issue in this town.

“It doesn’t really matter unfortunately,” Castiel sighed, looking down at the clothing in his hands. His mind flashed to the frightened look on the shopkeeper’s face and the massive file Balthazar had given them; a heavy pang of guilt washed over him. “We’ll have to go.”

“Seriously,” Dean said, head snapping over to look at him incredulously, “you figured out that a freaking murder monster is loose around here, how can we just leave?”

A spike of shame shot through Castiel and his grip on his clothes tightened; the accusatory tone in Dean’s voice was grating on his frazzled nerves “A general is demanding our presence, Dean,” he explained levelly, trying not to lose his temper. Dean was not in the military, he didn’t understand that there were people that they just could not ignore. “If we refuse, we won’t be helping anyone anymore.”

“Since when are you two such good little soldiers?”

Whatever response Castiel had been expecting, it hadn’t been that. Especially not the sharp tone.

Castiel prided himself on his ability to remain unaffected in high tension situations, there was no room for falling apart in the field, but that was the field. It appeared that this stoicism didn't extend to Dean. Castiel swallowed hard and set his clothes down. He blamed his lack of sleep and his chaotic thoughts for the slight burn in the back of his throat; it wasn’t tears but he would be lying to say he wasn’t hurt. Dean's irate glare was cutting deep; deeper than he would have expected. 

Maybe because Dean had almost never looked at him like that in their entire lives. The only time he'd ever looked that angry at him was when he and Jimmy did something extremely stupid that either endangered their lives or destroyed their automail.

But what made those times different was the obvious feeling that Dean's anger was coming from a place of affection. 

This wasn't like that. Dean looked irritable and upset but there was no glimmer of his usual caring nature. If Castiel knew any better, he'd say that Dean was actually upset at them.

_This is it, he’s finally tired of dealing with us and this--this madness,_ a nasty voice offered. _All we deal with is death and destruction, why would Dean want to be associated with people who did nothing but jump when their master calls even if it mean leaving people to suffer? We disgust him._

_He’s just tired,_ the logical part of his mind offered, _we’re all tired. Dean is as frustrated as we are; deep down he knows that Jimmy and I would rather stay here._

Feeling slightly calmer after coming to this visit from his rational mind, Castiel sighed and opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, Jimmy was on the move.

"Wow, way to hit below the belt, Dean," his twin said, his cheeks taking on a flush that Castiel knew meant his brother was upset. "Why don't you just blame us for the war while you're at it?"

Castiel sighed. Jimmy was only trying to defend him from Dean's (admittedly strange) behaviour but it was obvious that something was bothering Dean; if Castiel were forced to guess, it was the idea of leaving people behind. 

Dean didn't leave anyone behind. Castiel and Jimmy were proof of that.

Castiel needed to cut this argument off before Dean and Jimmy tried to hit each other; a highly possible scenario considering they were both volatile hot heads sometimes. Taking a deep breath to settle his own emotions, Castiel stepped between them.

"Enough, we aren't going to fight," he said, his body starting to feel the effects of not sleeping now that the adrenaline rush was gone. There was a persistent ache in his forehead, pounding at the inside of his skull. “We’re all tired and this morning has been stressful. Let’s not say things we don’t really mean.”

Jimmy snorted but let the matter go while Dean frowned and shrugged. Sensing an opportunity for reason, Castiel continued.

“We would much rather stay here to do our jobs, Dean,” he explained, pushing his own confused and hurt feelings aside, “but in order to keep helping people and accomplish our goal of restoring ourselves, we need to leave. It will be difficult to leave knowing what’s out there preying on these people but we won’t leave them without protection.”

The tension in Dean’s and Jimmy’s shoulders lessened and the air in the room warmed slightly. Feeling that he could leave them alone for at least a few minutes, Castiel grabbed his clothes and walked towards the bathroom. “Now, I’m going to get showered and dressed then I can explain our plan of action,” he threw over his shoulder. “Please don’t kill each other while I’m in the bathroom.”

If Dean and Jimmy continued to argue at lower volume, the sound of the shower drowned it out, leaving Castiel alone with his thoughts. He needed time to think on how to even begin dealing with this utter disaster.

And figure out what was bothering Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems my binge FMAB for a while in order to get back into this story worked :D  
> I was able to finish editing this chapter and start working on the next. Technically this and the next chapter were supposed to be one chapter but it's looking like the next scene is going to be long (and full of military intrigue...da...da...duun!) so it's probably best I split it plus this means I get to update for the first time in months :)


	11. High Command

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, guys...I finally finished a chapter...

Castiel could tell Dean was still upset about leaving the town without attempting to find the mysterious woman preying on the citizens. It went against his nature to abandon people and that passion for helping others was one of the things Castiel loved about him but they had to leave. The general hadn’t necessarily ordered his and Jimmy’s presence at the upcoming event but not every order in the military was direct.

It was a few hours until the next transport train to Philaeres would depart. Castiel knew they would need to be on if they were going to arrive in the city with enough time to prepare themselves. This lull fortunately gave him and Jimmy just enough time to whip up a little bit of alchemical protection for the town. 

“Okay, so once all these symbol are around the town and powered up, the demon bitch that’s taking these people can’t go into town anymore?”

Dean was crouched down next to him as Castiel etched a symbol into one of the pillars next to the north entrance of town. He and Dean had already come from the eastern gate and Jimmy was working on the southern and western parts of the city. Dean stared intently at Castiel’s work, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Castiel nodded. “Yes, they won’t be quite as powerful as the ones Jimmy and I put in the hotel rooms since this is such a large area but it’ll make it very difficult for the creature to commit acts of ill-will on the people here,” Castiel explained. “This matrix combination should repel the negative energy that would be present in such a creature.” A few lines later, the matrix was complete and he set down the piece of metal he’d been using to score the symbols into the stone. He motioned back at Dean. “Stand back, I’m going to power it.”

Once Dean was safely away, Castiel placed his hands on the matrix and focused on drawing power into it. Energy hummed through his body, channelling up from the earth before exiting his hands. With the matrix powered up and functional and tired from the exertion, Castiel struggled to his feet only to have Dean carefully pull him upright. 

“I’m fine,” Castiel said in response to the unspoken question in Dean’s eyes, brushing him off. “Powering up a matrix that will be used for such a large area takes a bit out of you,” he reassured him, his legs wobbling a bit. “Jimmy and I can rest on the train.”

They were just lucky Rauchsburg was built in the old style and only had four entrance points; Castiel wasn’t sure they would have been able to do more than four. Hell, he wasn’t even sure this plan would work but he had to hope it would.

The thought that these matrices would protect the town was the only thing allowing him to leave the city as it was.

Dean forced him to lean against him as they trudged back to the center of the city, a demand that Castiel couldn’t find it in himself to protest even if he had the feeling Dean was only insisting out of a sense of duty. Leaning against Dean’s warm solid presence helped soothe his mind which had been operating on overdrive ever since his discovery earlier that morning but the action also confused him. Dean’s behavior in general so far this morning had left him baffled.

When Castiel had outlined his plan to protect the city from the demon woman, he’d known without a doubt that Dean was going to want to go with them so when it came time to split up, he subtly suggested that Jimmy go on his own. This would give him some time to (hopefully) discover what had upset Dean. While Castiel could understand Dean’s frustration, what he’d come to learn about him over the years meant that Castiel was certain mere exasperation wouldn’t make Dean talk to them the way he had. The plan had been to outright ask if he and Jimmy had done something to him but oddly enough, Dean acted like this morning’s argument had never happened.

To Castiel’s utter surprise, Dean had chatted amicably with him on their frigid trudge through the city to the gates. It was as if Dean’s mood had completely changed. In fact, he almost seemed...apologetic, not to mention somewhat twitchy. He flinched away whenever Castiel moved too close; it was as if he were afraid of being in Castiel’s personal space, something that had never been a problem in the past.

They didn’t talk much as they walked back towards the city, heading towards the train station; Jimmy was going to meet them there once he was done with his own matrices and they were going to board the transport train to the capital. The coward in Castiel wanted to keep the silence in hopes that whatever had been going on earlier that morning would blow over but unfortunately his responsible sensibilities wouldn’t let him do that.

“Dean, this morning…” Castiel began hesitantly once he was able to walk steadily on his own, his eyes downcast at the snow covered sidewalk.

“I’m sorry,” Dean cut him off before he could even get started. Dean sighed, his eyes firmly fixed at the snow covered ground in front of them. “I’m sorry I treated you both like crap. It’s not your fault that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and I’m a complete asshole for suggesting you and Jimmy don’t care about this town.”

Castiel started to speak again but something about Dean’s contrite and strangely earnest expression prompted him to keep silent.

“I was completely out of line and I want to---I _need_ to apologize so can you please let me,” Dean asked. It was then that Castiel noticed that Dean looked almost anxious which struck him as odd; he was fidgeting with his gloves and rubbing at his face. “What happened this morning, it had nothing to do with you and Jimmy. I---um---had a weird dream and it freaked me out and it made it hard for me to sleep so I was already kinda grumpy and---well---I was probably going to have a bad morning anyway and---um---”

“The idea of leaving people in need bothered you,” Cas finished helpfully when it seemed like Dean was starting to flounder. Dean never liked admitting when he was wrong, who did to be honest, so Castiel hoped that by offering him some help, they could sweep this odd occurrence under the rug and move on. He reached out and patted Dean on the arm. “It bothered all of us and it wasn’t as if we all weren’t getting a little snippy,” Castiel offered, knowing that none of them had exactly been at their best this morning. “You aren’t alone in that so why should you take all the blame for being upset?”

Dean looked at him, slightly shellshocked as if he couldn’t believe his ears. He must have been expecting Castiel to tell him off or something which was ridiculous. As if he and Jimmy would get permanently bent out of shape after one petty squabble.

“So what, we all say we’re sorry and things go back to normal,” Dean asked incredulously. It seemed this simple solution hadn’t occurred to him and his look of disbelief wanted to make Castiel laugh just a little bit.

Castiel shrugged and gave him a small smile. “Of course, you’re our friend, Dean,” he said firmly. “It would take a hell of a lot more than you having a bad morning for Jimmy and I to stay upset at you for any length of time.”

Dean’s smile remained but a brief flash of something flashed behind Dean’s eyes. He muttered something under his breath that Castiel would have sworn sounded like “depends on what I do that morning” but he knew better than to rock the boat by asking what Dean had said. Instead, he clapped Dean on the shoulder and changed the subject. The air had lost any remaining traces of tension and, after the morning they’d had and considering the evening he and Jimmy were in for, Castiel felt he could be blamed for trying to only focus on talking to Dean about random nonsense for a while.

Once Dean finally loosened up, the rest of their walk to the train station was a light affair and for a brief time, Castiel could pretend they weren’t on the trail of a possible apocalyptic nightmare situation.

 

They arrived back in the capital and to Castiel and Jimmy’s surprise, there was a uniformed sergeant standing on the platform waiting for them.

The young, overly serious soldier seemed surprised to see Dean with them but recovered quickly. Apparently he’d been sent to show them to their quarters which turned out to be in a surprisingly nice hotel. 

This stuck Castiel as odd; he and Jimmy should have been given space in the local barracks during their stay following standard procedure. Being put up in such a nice place was strange. He mentioned this to Jimmy who decided they shouldn’t worry about it.

“If the higher ups want to give us a swanky hotel room instead of shoving us in those shitty barracks,” Jimmy said as they got ready for the event, “I say hell yeah. I mean look at how cozy these beds are.”

Castiel shook his head. “I’m just saying that it’s out of the ordinary,” he continued as he did up the buttons of his uniform jacket.

Jimmy and Dean continued to be unbothered by their more than satisfactory lodgings so Castiel chalked his feelings up to being on edge already from his realization in Rauchsburg. It was hard to relax with that information in his head; everything around him had taken on a sinister tint, like something was lurking just around the corner. Even something as innocuous as a military meet and greet was setting off his frayed nerves.

_Knock it off_ , Castiel scolded himself as they left the room to go to the event, once they were deemed fit to do so by Dean who had been fussing over their clothes until the very second they’d walked out the door. Castiel had to consciously unclench his hand from the fist that had formed when he’d thought he’d seen a shadow down a side hall. _This is the capital of all places. You know how many soldiers are in this city; there’s no way any danger of that caliber is getting anywhere near this place._

This of course was easier said than done though Jimmy appeared to sense his stress and was making sure to be just annoying enough to keep Castiel’s mind off of things but not enough to cause issues with the officers in attendance at the event. Which was a very considerate move on his brother’s part considering how many high ranking officers Castiel could see in the room.

And the fact that the event was inexplicably being held at the _Furher King’s home._

“Dude, am I mishearing things or is there a shit ton of brass in this room,” Jimmy whispered covertly behind the edge of his glass of obscenely expensive whiskey, “because I swear I’ve had like, a huge amount, of people introduce themselves and they’re all colonels and higher. Hell, I’m pretty sure I met about ten generals.”

Sipping at his drink, a high quality champagne of all things, Castiel leaned closer to Jimmy. “Your ears aren’t misleading you,” he said, making sure to keep his voice low. “I believe we are the lowest ranking officers here and by that I mean the only ones by far.”

“Okay, that’s freaky,” Jimmy muttered back. His eyes weren’t searching the room like Castiel’s own but Castiel could feel the subtle shift of energy wafting off Jimmy as he constantly swept the crowd. “And another thing what’s with this shindig being at the head cheese’s mansion. I mean I know that we’re just supposed to be the trained alchemy monkeys they want to show off to him to get more funding but---shit, in coming brass on your six, Cas.”

“Ah, there we are,” a reedy voice oozed from behind Castiel. “Sir, these are the two representatives from the alchemical branch, Castiel and James Novak.”

Mentally blessing his body’s well trained reaction to encountering high ranking officers, Castiel found his spine automatically straightening and his arms forming into a salute; he was aware of Jimmy moving almost perfect sync with him by his side. His and Jimmy’s ability to move in concert always impressed the brass especially when topped off with the simultaneous “sirs” the managed to say in unison. Perhaps the idea of two identical soldiers played into officers’ desire for uniformity or they just enjoyed the show of discipline irregardless, either way Castiel saw a satisfied gleam in Furher King Lucifer’s eyes.

“At ease, soldiers,” the Furher King said almost lazily. Castiel noted the elegantly dressed woman at his side; that had to be his wife Kelly. While he wasn’t one to make snap judgements about people, he couldn’t help but think her smile looked too attentive. “So you’re the boys who’ve been chasing after the crazies, eh?”

“Yes, sir,” Castiel replied dutifully. He desperately hoped Jimmy would allow him to do the talking. While Castiel was sure Jimmy wouldn’t be tempted to cause trouble on purpose, if the Furher King touched on any of Jimmy’s sensitive topics, he might not be able to stop Jimmy from spouting off. “We’re assigned to Colonel Crowley’s division.”

“Ah, yes. I believe I’ve heard of you two,” Furher King Lucifer said with a nod. “I was hoping you would be the ones they chose for this little get together. I’m very impressed with your work and I’ve been wondering how things have been going with the Magnus affair.”

It took Castiel some effort to keep the surprise and confusion off his face at hearing this. Since when did the ruler of the entire country care about what he and Jimmy were up to? 

“Things are progressing,” Castiel answered, still off kilter from being thrown into such a bizarre situation. He caught sight of General Alastair, the head of the military intelligence who had announced them, narrowing his eyes at him and realized how his answer might seem impertinent. “That is to say that we’ve made some progress in tracking him and while we haven’t been able to apprehend him, we have been exploring new leads.”

Furher King Lucifer hummed thoughtfully, a polite smile tugging at his lips; Castiel found that he was more than a little put off by the intensity of the Furher King’s gaze. He felt like he was being analyzed. Jimmy shifted next to him, moving his weight back away from their leader, apparently the Furher King’s gaze wasn’t his only daunting feature.

“New leads, that sounds promising,” Furher King Lucifer said, nodding. “How long do you think until he is caught? I’ll rest easier once I know that this psychopath is no longer loose in my country.”

Castiel only had a few moments to weight the pros and cons of being honest about his findings. On one hand, the fact that Mangus was obviously working with unknown associates was staggering news that more than likely meritted more attention than he and Jimmy could give it. They were only two people and, while objectively Castiel knew they were best suited for investigating this case, the case would only benefit with more resources. Yet, on the other hand, Castiel had come to the conclusion that a scheme of this immensity would require a large amount of influence and power and considering that the vast majority of power and influence in this country was in the hands of the military, it was entirely possible one of the higher ups in the military could be involved. 

In the end, Castiel felt that the potential for help in finding Magnus and his associates as soon as possible outweighed his, most likely paranoid, theory that anyone in the military would be involved. He and Jimmy needed all the resources they could get and besides, the more he thought about it, it seemed ridiculous to think the military would be involved. If they were, they wouldn’t be encouraging their investigation. 

“It would be irresponsible of me to give any concrete estimate at this time,” Castiel hedged, deciding to answer as honestly as possible without giving an unattainable goal. “But I would be comfortable reporting that we are much closer to apprehending Magnus after our investigation in Minneanna. Though I can say we have reason to suspect that Magnus is not the only suspect behind the deaths but this is only a theory at this point.”

The Furher King, mouth twitching slightly into a briefly grim line, didn’t seem very impressed with this answer but ultimately he smiled and patted Castiel on the shoulder. While it was obviously meant to be convivial, Castiel noted the Furher King’s hand fell with an intimidating weight. The same treatment was applied to Jimmy and, judging by the imperceptible twitch in Jimmy’s jaw, Castiel wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

“Ah, well, an interesting supposition to be sure and I’d love to hear more about it but first,” Furher King Lucifer decreed. He turned and smiled at his wife before raising his voice. “I believe it’s time for dinner.” 

Just as Castiel started to take the first proper breath he’d had all evening, the Furher King turned abruptly and nodded briskly towards the doorway that lead to the dining room. “Alchemist Novak, come. You and your brother will sit near me, I would like to hear more about your investigation.”

A shiver ran down Castiel’s spine and settled unpleasantly in his guts. 

Why was the leader of the entire country so interested in their investigation? While it was a well known fact that Furher King Lucifer was highly invested in the country’s well being and had been known to even fight in battle like a common soldier, Castiel couldn’t shake this odd feeling. If the Furher King wanted a report, why didn’t he approach his and Jimmy’s superior officer? Crowley had access to all of their reports as well as the updates they sent him via phone call. 

The memory of the Furher King’s intense gaze flashed before his eyes as he and Jimmy trailed dutifully along with the other guests to the opulent dining area, filling him with a sense of unease that followed him to his seat. He swore he could feel the weight of the entire table’s gaze on him and Jimmy as they sat down to the left of the Furher King but when he surreptitiously observed the other guests, he couldn’t tell who all had been watching.

But, by the end of that stressful dinner, Castiel was positive of one thing. 

Someone had been watching.

And that someone knew that he and Jimmy knew more than they were saying.

 

Castiel had been hoping to share his worries with Jimmy as soon as the Furher King and his entourage were out of ear shot but, once again to his surprise, one of the generals lagged behind. General Alastair was a tall, spindly gentleman who Castiel knew worked in military intelligence. After a few moments of standing in tense silence, Castiel knew that the man wanted to talk.

As much as he wished he could ignore the man so he and Jimmy could quietly slip away from the party, Castiel knew that blatantly ignoring a superior officer would not help their situation. 

“Is there something I can do for you, sir?” Castiel asked, turning to face the officer. His spine was ridged partially out of military training but also due to nerves.

“General Alastair,” the officer said with a smile that curled across his face like a snake uncurling from a hole. “Military Intelligence.”

Out of reflex, Jimmy and Castiel both saluted. Castiel noticed this display of obedience made General Alastair quite pleased. 

“Whatever could we do to be of assistance, General?” Jimmy asked, giving a slightly mocking bow. His smile looking more like a grimace after the long evening and it was clear Jimmy was starting to grow impatient. He could only stand military protocol for so long before cracking, and Castiel gave him an imperceptible nudge in warning.

Castiel smiled apologetically. “Forgive my brother, General. We just arrived in the city today and he’s tired from travel.”

“No forgiveness required, Alchemist Novak. I understand the stresses of travelling,” General Alastair replied in a tone that sounded like it wanted to be soothing but ended up mocking instead. Quite honestly everything about the man was off putting so Castiel supposed it didn’t matter what tone the man took. “I merely wanted to take a moment to speak to you. I find your theory that Magnus isn’t at the center of the issue interesting. What evidence has lead you to such a conclusion?”

“Well, it’s just a theory,” Jimmy said flippantly but with slightly more decorum. “Which means it’s just an idea we had. You’ll have to look somewhere else if you’re looking for anything more than that.”

As was to be expected, General Alastair did not take too kindly to Jimmy’s response. His already uninviting face took on a dark air and suddenly Castiel wondered just how much power the head of military intelligence could bring to bear. 

He suspected it was more than enough to make two upstart alchemists’ lives miserable.

Castiel stepped forward, putting himself in front of Jimmy while swiftly kicking his twin in the ankle as subtle as possible. “What my brother is trying to say, sir,” Castiel said hurriedly, making sure to smile in servile manner, “is that we don’t have any concrete leads. It’s quite possible that we’re mistaken but for the moment, I think it would be an error on our part to ignore the possibility. Magnus is dangerous whether he has accomplices or not but we’d rather plan for the worst.”

The dark cloud retreated ever so slightly, just enough that Castiel could actually breathe but not quite enough to put him at ease. The general eyed them with speculation for a moment before smiling tightly. “Yes, quite right,” General Alastair hummed, tapping at his chin as if he were deep in thought. “Though I can’t help but think that, as fascinating as this theory is, Charles Magnus seemed incapable of working for someone else. It’s a well known fact that he was a lone wolf so it seems highly unlikely that he would have worked with others.”

Seemed...was….would have worked….

As General Alastair’s words filtered through Castiel’s mind, his heart sickeningly skipped a beat. He forced himself not to react to the General’s use of the past tense. Magnus was still at large and, to anyone familiar with the case, assumed to be alive and in hiding. 

The head of military intelligence would know this so why was the general referring to him in the past tense? Once or twice might be a slip but more than that...

“Of course that is a possibility, sir,” Castiel replied, hoping to cover any accidental strange behavior on his part. “We don’t deny that. Magnus is a threat”

A small chuckle wormed its way out of General Alastair’s lips. Castiel noted that the smile and laughter in no way met his eyes. “No need to get so defensive, Novak,” he said as he made a calming gesture with his palms. General Alastair clasped his hand behind his back. “I’m only pointing out that the man’s psychological profile showed he was a loner. Though maybe you hadn’t taken that information into account when you settled on your theory, perhaps you should go back to the drawing board.”

The words were said with the jovial tone of a superior officer offering amusing advice but Castiel would have to be brain dead to miss the edge they carried. General Alastair’s expression still held its calm as he observed them but the unpleasant promise lingered in the air around them. Castiel felt his stomach clench.

They were being threatened.

He could feel Jimmy tense off to his side and silently willed his brother to maintain his temper. Jimmy was quick to anger and being threatened would not help that situation. They needed to remain calm and collected. If General Alastair truly was involved with Magnus, which he obviously had to be in some way otherwise why give them this blatant warning, they would get to the bottom of it. They’d taken down high ranking officers before, granted none of them had been generals but Castiel was confident that they could handle Alastair.

“Well, I must be heading out,” General Alastair said, knocking Castiel back to reality. “It’s getting late and I have an early day tomorrow--”

Smiling tightly, Castiel interrupted in an attempt to move things along. “Yes, so do we. We’re going to be heading out again tomorrow afternoon--”

“--I’m sure you’ll be wanting to get back to your little friend, Dean was it?”

All the air in the room was abruptly sucked out. At least, that’s what it felt like.

“Yes, I do believe that was his name,” General Alastair continued in an air of casualness that did not match the cold calculation of his eyes or the bite of his smirk. “We’d noticed that you two had decided to start bringing your mechanic along. It’s a smart idea considering the damage that your investigations tend to cause to your automail but I myself would be worried for my friend’s safety.” The bastard paused as if for dramatic effect before fixing Castiel with a false smile that made his blood run cold. “It’s all too easy for civilians to be injured, you’ll want to keep an eye out.”

There was a soft clank as Jimmy’s automail hand clenched in anger and Castiel noticed the sound caused an excited gleam in General Alastair’s eyes. 

He knew he had them.

“Anyway, I’ll wish you two good evening. It’s time for me to get some sleep,” Alastair continued, turning to leave but not before tossing a knowing smirk over his shoulder. “Maintaining the countries network of intelligence agents can be so trying you know.”

The unspoken _“I’ll be watching”_ hung over Castiel and Jimmy long after the general faded into the crowd.

 

As soon as General Alastair disappeared, Castiel and Jimmy bolted for the door as fast a propriety allowed them to and, to Castiel’s relief, Jimmy waited until they were hurrying down the street to detonate.

“That fucking goddamn motherfucker,” Jimmy cursed as they dodged people on the sidewalk, the usual late night stragglers of a large city. “If he even thinks about touching Dean, I swear I’ll--”

“Quiet!” Castiel slapped his brother hard on the chest. His eyes darted to the many MPs wandering the streets. “We are in the middle of the capital, watch what you say.”

“But he threatened _Dean_ ,” Jimmy countered. 

It was a logical argument to be sure and Castiel understood his brother’s rage. His own stomach as roiling with fiery lava as his own mind cycled endless on the various ways to ensure General Alastair was never even in the same province as Dean but they needed to keep their heads. Alastair was still a general and even worse, the man had access to every spy in the country.

Jimmy wisely kept his mouth shut for the rest of their frantic journey back to the hotel. By the time they were outside the room, Castiel’s pounding heart had nothing to do with their mad dash up the stairs. They burst through the door and into the room, startling Dean from where he was laying his bed.

“What in the everloving fuck?!” Dean blurted out as he bolted upright. His hand darted over to his cluttered bedside table to grab a heavy looking wrench and his eyes searched wildy. “Are we being attacked? Is it the demon ladies?”

In a display of unconscious twin synchronicity, Castiel and Jimmy both lunged forward and wrapped a squawking Dean in a fierce hug. It hadn’t been until that moment that Castiel realized how terrified he’d been that they would open the door to find Dean missing.

Or worse.

The relief at finding Dean unharmed was so great, Castiel wanted to cry a little bit but he resisted. Instead he breathed in the comforting scent of hotel soap, degreasing solution, and oil that clung to Dean’s shirt and tried to ignore the flashing image of General Alastair’s deadly smirk.

“Uh, guys, not that I don’t love a cuddle pile as much as the next guy,” Dean said after a moment of Castiel and Jimmy clinging to him. He patted their backs soothingly. “But, um, what’s up with the hug-fest?”

Taking a deep breath, Castiel steeled himself and reluctantly released his hold on Dean. Jimmy followed right after and they all sat on the bed but no one spoke. Dean’s face was filled with concern as he set his wrench. Knowing there was no easy way to tell Dean that he had a target on his back and it was all their fault, Castiel braced himself to answer but was stopped by the room’s phone ringing.

It was no surprise that they all jumped at the harsh sound. Being the closest to the phone, Jimmy’s hand shot out and lifted it to his ear. What followed was a short conversation with short perfunctory answers that didn’t allow for Castiel to understand what was going on but while it hadn’t lasted long, it was long enough that Jimmy’s face went deadly pale.

“What is it?” Dean asked, reaching out to grasp Jimmy’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, we’ll handle it---”

“We need to go,” Jimmy said abruptly, bolting off the bed in order to start shoving their belongings into random duffles. “That was Crowley. We need to go home now.”

A wave of horrible trepidation fell over the room and as much as Castiel didn’t want to, he knew he needed to ask. “Jimmy, what did Crowley tell you? What’s going on?”

Jimmy turned from zipping up Dean’s duffle. His shoulders were tense and he pointedly faced Castiel instead of Dean. If Jimmy’s eyes had been capable of it, they would be pleading. Whatever was wrong, his brother wanted nothing more than to not have to say it out loud.

“It’s Bobby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know what to say except for sorry for taking so long. My brain hasn't really been in writing mode very much lately but I'll be damned if I'm not going to finish this story or my other works in progress. It might take me a while but I am going to finish this.

**Author's Note:**

> So, there's chapter one. 
> 
> I've got 8 chapters written for this already so, fingers crossed, I'll be able to keep up the posting schedule if I keep up my current writing pace.


End file.
